“Some of you young folks been saying to me, “Hey Pops, what you mean ‘What a wonderful world’? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That aint so wonderful either.” Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. Seems to me, it aint the world that’s so bad but what we’re doin’ to it. And all I’m saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we’d give it a chance. Love baby, love. That’s the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we’d solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser.”
“Reciprocity is in each moment, invisible threads of connection that support and nurture. Take the simple act of breathing. We breathe out carbon dioxide, which the trees, plants and seaweeds love and need. They breathe us in, the very essence that moved through us, holding stories of blood, grief, joy and bone, now moves through them. Turning our breath into oxygen, they transform what we let go of, into the support we need to survive and thrive. As we breathe in, the very essence that moved in tree, plant and ocean, holding stories of wildness, salt, earth, roots, tides and growth, now moves in us. Each breath full of the strength of oak, the tenacity of weed, the magic of foxglove, the depths of sea and the alchemy of earth.”
From Polishing the Mirror: How to Live from Your Spiritual Heart by Ram Dass,
“If somebody asks me, “Ram Dass, are you happy?” I stop and look inside. “Yes, I’m happy.” “Ram Dass, are you sad?” “Yes, I’m sad.” Answering those questions, I realize that all of those feelings are present. Imagine the richness of a moment in which everything is present: the pain of a broken heart, the joy of a new mother holding her baby, the exquisiteness of a rose in bloom, the grief of losing a loved one. This moment has all of that. It is just living truth.
The saving grace is being able to witness suffering from the perspective of the soul. Another way to say it is that the saving grace is having faith. Living in the fullness of the moment with joy and suffering, witnessing it in all its perfection, our hearts still go out to those who are suffering.
If we live in the moment, we are not in time. If you think, “I’m a retired person. I’ve retired from my role,” you are looking back at your life. It’s retrospective; it’s life in the rearview mirror. If you’re young, you might be thinking, “I have my whole life ahead of me. This is what I’ll do later.” That kind of thinking is called time binding. It causes us to focus on the past or the future and to worry about what comes next.
Getting caught up in memories of the past or worrying about the future is a form of self-imposed suffering. Either retirement or youth can be seen as moving on, a time for something different, something new. Start fresh. It’s a new moment. Aging is not a culmination. Youth isn’t preparation for later. This isn’t the end of the line or the beginning. Now isn’t a time to look back or plan ahead. It’s time to just be present. The present is timeless. Being in the moment, just being here with what is, is ageless, eternal.”
Threshold invocation for the Festival of Lughnasadh by Caitlin Matthews
“Lady of the Land, open the door, Lord of the Forest, come you in, Let there be welcome to the bountiful compassion, Let there be welcome to the Autumn of the Year. In fruit and grain you are travelling, In ferment and bread you will arrive. May the blessed time of Lughnasadh Nourish the soul of all beings, Bringing love and healing to all hurts. From the heights to the depths, From the depths to the heights, To the wounds of every soul.”
“Take my hand and lead me to salvation Take my love, for love is everlasting And remember the truth that once was spoken: To love another person is to see the face of God.”
“I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know.. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.. The other element of friendship is tenderness.. When a man becomes dear to me, I have touched the goal of fortune.. Friendship is for aid and comfort through all the relations and passages of life and death. It is fit for serene days, and graceful gifts, and country rambles, but also for rough roads and hard fare, shipwreck, poverty, and persecution… We are to dignify to each other the daily needs and offices of man’s life, and embellish it by courage, wisdom and unity.. The essence of friendship is entireness, a total magnanimity and trust.”
“I don’t know Who, or what, put the question, I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone, or Something, and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.”
Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General and Unitarian, born on this day in 1905
“Each day is born with a sunrise and ends in a sunset, the same way we open our eyes to see the light, and close them to hear the dark. You have no control over how your story begins or ends. But by now, you should know that all things have an ending. Every spark returns to darkness. Every sound returns to silence. Every flower returns to sleep with the earth. The journey of the sun and moon is predictable. But yours, is your ultimate ART.”
“People often ask me what is the most effective technique for transforming their life. It is a little embarrassing that after years and years of research and experimentation, I have to say that the best answer is – just be a little kinder.”
King Edward Street Chapel 