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
Serenity
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
Morning Trip (279)
“When we doubt the truth, we start to believe in lies. Soon we believe in so many lies that we no longer see the truth, and we fall from the dream of heaven.”
–Don Miguel Ruiz, Don Jose Ruiz, and Janet Mills
Morning Trip (264)
“Resentment and anger are emotions that cause your suffering, keeping them alive inside you, draining you of your life force and inner light. Nothing good comes from anger, hate, or resentment. Peace can only come through forgiveness, when you release all that binds you to negativity. Perhaps you need to forgive yourself for placing unrealistic expectations on your situation resulting in a self-sabotaging perception tainted by perfectionism.”
(Look within) “…and see how the lack of forgiveness feeds the” (perception of) “turmoil and suffering around you. Forgiveness is the key to freedom and peace…and it starts with you.”
–Colette Baron-Reid
Morning Trip (189)
“Inner silence works from the moment you begin to accrue it. The desired result is what the old sorcerers called stopping the world, the moment when everything around us ceases to be what it’s been.
It is this moment when man the slave becomes man the free being, capable of feats of perception that defy our linear imagination.”
– Carlos Castaneda
Elisa's Spot 