Morning Trip (372)

”There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it.”
—-Washington Irving

Morning Trip (370)

”The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.”
—-Richard Bach

Morning Trip (366)

“From the grasses in the field to the stars in the sky, each one is doing just that; and there is such profound peace and surpassing beauty in nature because none of these tries forcibly to transgress its limitations.”
—-Rabindranath Tagore

Morning Trip (344)

Though I cannot flee from the world of corruption, I can prepare tea with water from a mountain stream and put my heart to rest.

—-Ueda Akinari

Morning Trip (342)

”Out here in the woods I can think of nothing except God and it is not so much that I think of Him either. I am as aware of Him as of the sun and the clouds and the blue sky and the thin cedar trees. When I first came out here, I was asleep…but I read a few lines from the Desert Fathers and then, after that, my whole being was full of serenity and vigilance.

Who am I writing this for, anyway? It is a waste of time! Enough to say that as long as I am out here I cannot think of Camaldoli either; no question of being here and dreaming of somewhere else. Engulfed in the simple and lucid actuality which is the afternoon: I mean God’s afternoon, this sacramental moment of time when the shadows will get longer and longer, and one small bird sings quietly in the cedars, and one car goes by in the remote distance and the oak leaves move in the wind.”

—— Thomas Merton, When the Trees Say Nothing, Writings on Nature

Morning Trip (325)

“In the hollows of quiet places we may meet, the quiet places where is neither moon nor sun, but only the light as of amber and pale gold that comes from the Hills of the Heart. There, listen at times: there you will call, and I hear: there will I whisper, and that whisper will come to you as dew is gathered into the grass, at the rising of the moon.”
–Fiona Macleod, The silence of Amor; Where the forest murmurs p. 6

Morning Trip (324)

“How many times in our lives have we had that unfortunate moment when we realize that no amount of prayer, wishful thinking, incantations to the gods or promises of remorse is going to reverse the irreversible.”
–Curmudgeon at Large

Morning Trip (322)

“Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those – in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. Above all, try to avoid telling stories about the unjust treatment you received at their hands; avoid it no matter how receptive your audience may be. Tales of this sort extend the existence of your antagonists; most likely they are counting on your being talkative and relating your experience to others. Therefore, steal, or still, the echo, so that you don’t allow an event, however unpleasant or momentous, to claim any more time than it took for it to occur.”
–Joseph Brodsky