A Song Of Life by Ella Wheeler Wilcox In the rapture of life and of living,I lift up my head and rejoice,And I thank the great Giver for givingThe soul of my gladness a voice.In the glow of the glorious weather,In the sweet-scented, sensuous air,My burdens seem light as a featherThey are nothing to…
Spiritual poems: “The Truth teller” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The Truth Teller The Truth Teller lifts the curtain,And shows us the people’s plight;And everything seems uncertain,And nothing at all looks right.Yet out of the blackness groping,My heart finds a world in bloom;For it somehow is fashioned for hoping,And it cannot live in the gloom.He tells us from border to border,That race is…
Our Earth and all its life poems: “Life goes on” by M. Linda Steffey
“LIFE GOES ON”Poetry by M. Linda Steffey A Spiritual And Inspirational Poem from All-Creatures.org Spiritual and Inspirational poetry that touch the heart and soul, and provoke the mind. LIFE GOES ON The Bees don’t need MankindBut Mankind needs the Bees…The Seas don’t need MankindBut Mankind needs the Seas!The Grasses will go on growingThe Trees, their…
“Fixed Ideas” by Zen Master Daehaeng
Fixed ideas are like a wisp of cloud or smoke,but nonetheless people find themselves blocked or captured by these. You would laugh if you saw someone tripped by a cloud, or if someone claimed that they were imprisoned by the air. But, in fact, people are endlessly being trapped by things no more…
POEMS: “Travel within” by Temet Nosce (re-blogged)
Originally posted on kevin kinge:
Travel within to understand the universeFor the world is born in you, life but a dreamYour six senses make the dream realThe body is a reflection of the universe Travel within to find the DivineAncient texts and holy places but guidesTruth hides within you, created in his imageThe body is…
Stories (with a lesson) taught by Buddha: “The lost son”
THE LOST SON “A young widower, who loved his five year old son very much, was away on business when bandits came who burned down the whole village and took his son away. When the man returned, he saw the ruins and panicked. The took the burnt corpse of an infant to be his…
Spiritual Poems: “I AM” by Rolf Jacobse (translated from Norwegian)
I am the bird that knocks at your window in the morningand your companion, whom you cannot know,the blossoms that light up for the blind. I am the glacier’s crest above the forests, the dazzling one and the brass voices from cathedral towers. The thought that suddenly comes over you at midday and fills you…
Zen Stories with a lesson: “The sound of the forest” (Let us all learn to listen…)
The Sound of the Forest Back in the third century A.D., the King Ts’ao sent his son, Prince T’ai, to the temple to study under the great master Pan Ku. Because Prince T’ai was to succeed his father as king, Pan Ku was to teach the boy the basics of being a good ruler. When…
Stories with a lesson: The story of “The wise Woman’s stone”
The Wise Woman’s Stone “A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.~~The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him.She…
Wisdom poems: “Love all” by Dostoevsky
Love all Love all that has been created by God, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf and every ray of light. Love the beasts and the birds, love the plants, love every separate fragment. If you love each separate fragment, you will understand the mystery of the whole resting in God. —Dostoevsky
MYSTICAL POEMS: “Run” (from spiritual confinement) by Hafiz
Run, my dear,from anything that may not strengthenyour precious budding wings, Run like hell, my dear,from anyone likely to put a sharp knifeinto the sacred, tender visionof your beautiful heart. We have a duty to befriendthose aspects of obediencethat stand outside of our houseand shout to our reason“oh please, oh pleasecome out and play!” For…
Wisdom poems: “If you love”… by Ibn al-Arabi
Your task is not to seek for love,but merely to seek and find all the barrierswithin yourself that you have built against it. Then when you see what is around you asnot other-than-you, and all and everything asthe existence of the One; when you do not see anything elsewith Him or in him; but see…
Poems with a lesson: “The cookie thief”
Let us all think before we quickly and blindly judge others… The Cookie Thief A woman was waiting at an airport one night,With several long hours before her flight.She hunted for a book in the airport shops.Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but…
Spiritual poems: “The quiet search” by Melanie White
Rushing through life leaves me unsatisfied. Where is peace? In the stillness where struggle ends and I surrender to the Oneness. Here, my breath guides me back to my self in the present, God’s holy creation with infinite possibilities Be still, and Know I AM. by Melanie White Posted with permission from Unity @…
A prayer shared at a United Nations Environmental Sabbath Program
We have forgotten who we are. We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding of the cosmos We have become estranged from the movements of the earth We have turned our backs on the cycles of life. We have forgotten who we are. We have sought only our own security We have exploited simply for…
We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For, by Hopi Elders
We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For, by Hopi Elders You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered: Where are you living? What are you doing? What are…
SHORT STORY: “A tail of happiness” (from an older post)
“Wherever you go, there you are”.
The story of the origin of dog and cat
ADAM SAID: “LORD, WHEN I WAS IN the garden, you walked with me every day. Now I see you no longer. I am lonesome here and it is difficult for me to remember how much you love me.” And God said, “I will create a companion for you who will be with you forever…
SPIRITUAL POEMS: “The I Am Prayer” by Trina Graves
Affirming The Classics / Spiritual Poem The I Am Prayer September 22, 2020 Trina Graves2 Comments Affirming The Classics: The Lord’s Prayer All-That-Is, God, The I AM Energy,Known by many names: All One Source…Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent.Physical and non-physical dimensions are United in Oneness. I Am thankful for the abundance You eternally provide.I…
A short story to make us ponder…. “Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions” originally written by Edwin Abbott Abbott ,1884
In this classic masterwork of perspective, Abbott examines the science of multiple spatial dimensions while satirizing the absurdity of truth by consensus and extending a subtle invitation to consider how what we take as our givens limits our grasp of reality, presenting us with a false view of the world warped by our way of…
A notice to all my dear friends from the blogging community
Dear friends: I will be taking a break from the blog for a while in order to pursue other interests which are taking much of my time at the moment. I have done this before, and I always return with enthusiasm and a sense of renewal, as I follow the seasons of my life. …
A quote from Thich Nhat Hanh on our apparent impermanence and yet our eternal nature (the wave and the ocean)
We are a wave appearing on the surface of the ocean. The body of a wave does not last very long – perhaps only ten to twenty seconds. The wave is subject to beginning and ending, to going up and coming down. The wave may be caught in the idea that ‘I am here now,…
Let’s take a moment in quiet contemplation to listen to our hearts (5 minutes exercise)
Dear friends: Whatever your religious background, or spiritual believes, whatever your concept of God or Higher Power is, I invite you to take a few moments today to turn within. Please turn off your phones and technologies for 5 minutes. Make sure you won’t be disturbed or distracted. Take a few deep breaths and…
A quote from Neale Donald Walsch on “love”
Love is sometimes shown in the things you don’t say, don’t keep track of and don’t notice. The greatest kindness is often shown in letting things go. None of us is perfect, but we can all be perfect friends and perfect partners by allowing those that we love to be imperfect. Give those around you…
“The immesurables” from the Buddha’s teachings
[The Buddha] used to make monks and laypeople alike practice a certain discipline called the “immeasurables,” because it made you bigger. You sat and you sent out waves of benevolence and good wishes to the whole world, not excluding anyone from your radius of benevolence. It’s a radius. You have to start off when you’re…
NATURE POEMS: “Song of the Rain” by Khalil Gibran
“Song Of The Rain” I am dotted silver threads dropped from heaven By the gods. Nature then takes me, to adorn Her fields and valleys. I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the Crown of Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn To embellish the gardens. When I cry the hills laugh; When I humble myself the…
Nature Poems: excerpt from Sabbaths, VII, by Wendell Berry
There is a place you can gowhere you are quiet,a place of water and the light on the water. Trees are there,leaves, and the lighton leaves moved by air. Birds, singing, moveamong leaves, in leaf shadow.After many years you have come to no thought of these,but they are themselvesyour thoughts. There seems to be little…
Poems: “The Arrow and the Song” By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Arrow and the Song I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so…
The speech that can change your perspective…Carl Sagan “Pale Blue Dot” speech (3 minutes video)
From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of…
MYSTICAL POEMS: “The cheapest room” by Hafiz
What we speak becomes the house we live in. Who will want to sleep in your bed if the roof leaks right above it? Fear is the cheapest room in the house, I would like to see you living in better conditions. There is only one reason we have followed God into this world:…
INSPIRATIONAL POEMS: “Now is never too late” by Darlene Parnell
“Now is never too late” It’s never too late to be what you might have been It’s never too late to start to begin again For every moment’s now, therefore is not too late Time’s just an illusion- your mind decides your fate Have you written your book or sung your song? Or make…
POEMS: “There is simply the rose” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life…
SPIRITUAL POEMS: “I am not I” by Juan Ramón Jiménez (Poemas espirituales: “Yo no soy yo” de Juan Ramón Jiménez )
I am not I I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see, whom at times I manage to visit, and whom at other times I forget; who remains calm and silent while I talk, and forgives gently, when I hate, who walks where I am…
Canción: “Ábrete corazón” (Spanish song & Lyrics in English “Open your heart”) by Claudia Stern (3 min video)
Open your heart Open your feeling Open your understanding Set aside the reason And let the sun shine, hidden within you Open old memory Hidden in the land In plants, under fire, underwater Open your heart Open your feeling Open your understanding Set aside the reason And let the sun shine, hidden within you It’s…
A quantum physics quote Wow! On the nature of….? (reality?)
Niels Bohr … understood that the energy of electrons in atoms can take on only certain values, like the energy of light, and crucially that electrons can only jump between one atomic orbit and another with determined energies, emitting or absorbing a photon when they jump. These are the famous “quantum leaps.” Werner Heisenberg imagined…
MYSTICAL POEMS: “What happens when your soul begins to awaken to the great journey of Love?” by Hafiz
What happens when your soul begins to awaken your eyes and your heart and the cells of your body to the great Journey of Love? First there is wonderful laughter and probably precious tears and a hundred sweet promises and those heroic vows no one can ever keep. But still God is delighted and amused…
Spirituality from Daily Word: “Aware” (Espiritualidad de la Palabra Diaria: “Consciente”)
Aware I grow in spiritual awareness. I am part of an infinite circle of spiritual light that illuminates the world. Knowing that I am one with God bolsters my faith and deepens my understanding of the great power and presence within me. During times of quiet contemplation, I touch this timeless Truth and feel my…
A Spiritual Quote about love from Rainer Maria Rilke
Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it. —Rainer Maria Rilke
A quote by Geoffrey D. Falk on the “Ocean of Cosmic Consciousness”
Art: “Ocean of Consciousness Painting by Dina Soker We are individualized waves of consciousness on the Infinite Ocean of Spirit; so say the sages. But, although the Ocean has become the wave, and the wave, when it dissolves the illusion of ego-separation and limitation, realizes that it has always been one with the Infinite…
A wisdom quote from Nikola Tesla on our interconectedness
Like a wave in the physical world, in the infinite ocean of the medium which pervades all, so in the world of organisms, in life, an impulse started proceeds onward, at times, maybe, with the speed of light, at times, again, so slowly that for ages and ages it seems to stay, passing through processes…
Quote: “Judge Not Today” by Deepak Chopra
Judgment creates turbulence in our mind. When there is turbulence in our mind, then it interferes with the creativity of our soul. Creativity and judgment don’t go together. Judgment also means that letting go of the need to classify things, to call them either right or wrong, to label, to define, to describe, to evaluate,…
3 interesting quotes on: the nature of matter and the Universe by Einstein, Michio Kaku and Max Planck
1.- Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper. —Albert Einstein…
SPIRITUAL POEMS: “In the realm of the passing away” by Stephen Levine
In the realm of the passing away… This is the realm of the passing away. All that exists does not for long. Whatever comes into this world never stops sliding toward the edge of eternity. Form arises from formlessness and passes back, arising and dissolving in a few dance steps between creation and…
POEMS ON KINDNESS: “At set of sun” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
AT SET OF SUN If we sit down at set of sun, And count the things that we have done, And counting, find One self-denying act, one word That eased the heart of him who heard, One glance, most kind, That fell like sunshine where it went— Then we may count that day well…
A wonderful short video (3 minutes) to celebrate “respect for fish Day” the story of a lasting friendship under the sea
The amazing story of a lasting friendship under the sea Scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa and Yoriko are the unlikeliest of friends. While they both share a love for the sea, Yoriko’s gills and tail make her a little more aquatically inclined. Nearly every day for the past 25 years, Arakawa has been diving into…
A quote from Richard Rohr on aboriginal wisdom and our interconectedness
“Karl Jaspers calls the primal connection that the first people had with the universe Pre-Axial Consciousness. David Suzuki finds this Pre-Axial Consciousness among aboriginal people today as well. “Aboriginal people do not believe they end at their skin or fingertips. The earth as mother is real to them, and their history, culture and purpose are…
Love Poems: “Unending Love” by Rabindranath Tagore
I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times… In life after life, in age after age, forever. My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms, In life after life, in age after age, forever. Whenever…
MYSTICAL POEMS: “I have come into this world to see this” by Hafiz
I have come into this world to see this: the sword drop from men’s hands even at the height of their arc of anger because we have finally realized there is just one flesh to wound and it is the Beloved’s. I have come into this world to see this: all creatures hold hands as…
Poems on ageing: “Now I become myself” by May Sarton
Now I become myself Now I become myself. It’s taken Time, many years and places; I have been dissolved and shaken, Worn other people’s faces, Run madly, as if Time were there, Terribly old, crying a warning, “Hurry, you will be dead before—” (What? Before you reach the morning? Or the end of the poem…
SHORT WISDOM EXCERPT FROM: “The Prophet’s candle” by Daniel
“Rather measure yourself by the amount of love you freely give, by the light that you bring into the darkened world;…”
Zen Stories: “An Empty Boat” by Kamal @ Boundless Blessings (re-blogged)
Originally posted on Boundless Blessings by Kamal:
One day, a monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes, breathes normally and begins his meditation. After a few hours of undisturbed silence and in a deep meditative state,…
“Dreams must be” by Earth sky air (re-blogged)
Originally posted on earth sky air:
The early morning, still dark and star-strewn, makes the space for dreams — the wisps of the inscrutable ones begging to be deciphered, and, too, the waking dreams of substance, dreams of the heart, the aphrodisiac of aliveness.? These are the dreams that make us more of who we…
Spirituality from Daily Word: “Grateful” (Espiritualidad de la Palabra Diaria: “Gratitud”)
Grateful I live a life of gratitude. Expressing gratitude is essential to my spiritual practice. No matter where I go or what I do, I take time to give thanks. Feeling grateful throughout the day keeps me focused on my blessings and the presence of God in and through all things. Today I…
A quote on respecting “the mind that stirs in every creature” by Gerard de Nerval (1808 –1855)
Respect the mind that stirs in every creature: love is a mystery known by metals too; every flower opens its soul to Nature; everything is sentient, and works on you. Beware! From the blind wall one watches you: even matter has a logos all its own . . . do not put it to some impious…
A quote from Neale Donald Walsch on “This too shall pass”
Morning comes every day; the sunrise does not fail, nor the sunset. Give it time. That is all that may be required. Just give it time. Do not try to push the river. The cycles of life present themselves, play themselves out, and make smooth every passage and terrain. Try not to get caught…
Today we celebrate: “World Kindness Day 2020”
Some ideas: Start with you, do something good for you like drinking more water, adding more veggies to your diet, taking some deep breaths, or doing some physical activity you love, read your favorite book or something inspirational and uplifting. Follow with your family and friends. Be kind to yourself and your loved ones. Phone…
“Learn to quiet your mind” by Temet Nosce (re-blogged)
Originally posted on kevin kinge:
Photo by Kristina on Unsplash If your goal is to achieve a quiet mind, you should first find out what causes a noisy mind. According to the stoics, a noisy mind is caused by desire and aversion in regards to things beyond our control. Epictetus advised to unconditionally accept anything beyond our…
bodyandsoulnourishmentblog 