Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,
I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign’d by God’s name,
And I leave them where they are, for I know that where- soe’er I go,
Others will punctually come for ever and ever.
– Walt Whitman
This is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen. – Joseph Campbell
Photo: Autumn Schulz
The First Emperor understood how important books were. He burned books and buried scholars in order to dominate the country. Every despot since then has known that control of knowledge is control of a nation. But it didn’t work for the First Emperor, and it will never work for any despot. There will always be books- which can be hidden, which need no technology to open, which are not virtual but real objects. Those who use them will not give them up easily.
That is why, even today, books are so revered. Books allow people to think for themselves, allow access to knowledge forgotten or even out of favor with the times. Books allow knowledge to travel over time and distances greater than the author could ever accomplish in person. Most important, books encourage allegiance not to kings, but to the learning of the individual. And that is crucial to Tao. – Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao
“Embrace the present moment as an ever-flowing source of holiness.” –Jean Pierre de Caussade
photo: Jere DeWaters
The Peace of Wild Things
BY WENDELL BERRY
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
following your own path, birds will shit on you. Don't bother to brush it off. Getting a comedic view of your situation gives you spiritual distance. Having a sense of humor saves you. -Joseph Campbell
…nearly 7 years ago, I was driving to meet a friend for coffee and conversation. My world had seemingly collapsed a few months before and I was heartsick and tired of life.
Then I heard this song. I didn’t know at the time who the “you” was or would be. Someone from the past? future? Was it God?
Perhaps it was all.
And now when I hear it, all I can think of is gratitude and love for my love and companion, Autumn…
Edge of Atlantic 