So. Much. Beauty.
So. Much. Beauty
If you’re like me, watching any part of the Supreme Court hearings a few days ago made you feel pretty awful, regardless of political perspective. It is for that reason that I was so grateful for several things. I was grateful for what I found on youtube two nights ago, for the poetry that blessed me through the week, and then from what I experienced on a hike yesterday morning. All of them reminded me of that necessary truth that beauty can be found around us no matter what is taking place. So, not much commentary, simply sharing what I was blessed to receive this week.
From Daniel Ladinsky (inspired by the Sufi poet, Hafiz)
I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through— listen to this music
From Rabia (c 717-801)
In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is illumined nothing, where ecstasy gets poured into itself and becomes lost, where the wing is fully alive but has no mind or body? In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church that dissolve, that dissolve in God.
Sunset a few nights ago
Jon Batiste performing What a Wonderful World [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHuI_SnqlWE]
Then a story in my devotion yesterday morning about our union with the divine...
Anthony de Mello (1931–1987), an East Indian Jesuit priest, was renowned for his storytelling, which drew from both Eastern and Western mystical traditions. One of his stories, “The Salt Doll,” illustrates the awakening to our true essence: A salt doll journeyed for thousands of miles over land, until it finally came to the sea. It was fascinated by this strange moving mass, quite unlike anything it had ever seen before.
“Who are you?” said the salt doll to the sea.
The sea smilingly replied, “Come in and see.”
So the doll waded in. The farther it walked into the sea the more it dissolved, until there was only very little of it left. Before that last bit dissolved, the doll exclaimed in wonder, “Now I know what I am!”
Finally, a reminder of how beauty is often not seen around us but it is always there. On my hike yesterday, the thick morning dew had glistened all the spiderwebs around the nature center. These webs that would normally not be seen were evident everywhere.
So. Much. Beauty.