Giving

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself?

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much which they have - 

and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. 

And there are those who have little and give it all. 

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; 

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; 

And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.

And is there aught you would withhold?

All you have shall some day be given;

Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."

The trees in the orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.

They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.

And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. 

And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?  

And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?  

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.  

For in truth it is life that gives unto life -

while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers - and you are all receivers - 

assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives. 

Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings; 

For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.  

Kahlil Gibran

Photo:  Peter Bowers

  

hiding in this cage

hiding in this cage

of visible matter

is the invisible

 lifebird

pay attention

to her

she is singing 

your song

Kabir

image via:  sweetlysurreal

we are...

We are

People who need to love, 

because

Love is the soul's life. 

Love is simply creation's 

greatest joy.  

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Out beyond ideas

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, 

there is a field.  I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, and even the phrase each other

doesn't make sense.

Rumi

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Good Medicine

Unbelief is good medicine, undoing belief

 better:

all beings free to leave their being

 and enter silence.

The nameless tree with its forest

of green, 

the endless expanse called

sky, beaks and

feathered wings with their urgent 

conversations; 

all around, the light that sets the vital body

to humming, 

and the dark of re-creation:

the world held for us in promise

until it is loosened from

our thinking.  

Andrew Colliver

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Light

But the mind always wants

more than it has - 

one more bright day of sun, 

one more clear night in bed 

with the moon; one more hour 

to get the words right; one 

more chance for the heart in hiding 

to emerge from its thicket 

in dried grasses - as if this quiet day 

with its tentative light weren't enough, 

as if joy weren't strewn all around. 

Holly Hughes 

Photo:  Peter Bowers

For the Traveler

Every time you leave home, 

Another road takes you

Into a world you were never in. 

New strangers on other paths await.

New places that have never seen you

Will startle a little at your entry.

Old places that know you well

Will pretend nothing

Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself

Alone in a different way,

More attentive now

To the self you bring along,

Your more subtle eye watching

You abroad; and how what meets you

Touches that part of the heart

That lies low at home: 

How you unexpectedly attune

To the timbre in some voice,

Opening a conversation

You want to take in

To where your longing

Has pressed hard enough

Inward, on some unsaid dark,

To create a crystal of insight

You could not have known

You needed

To illuminate

Your way.

When you travel, 

A new silence

Goes with you,

And if you listen,

 You will hear 

What your heart would 

Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing:

Make sure, before you go,

To take the time

To bless your going forth, 

To free your heart of ballast

So that the compass of your soul

Might direct you toward

The territories of spirit

Where you will discover

More of your hidden life,

And the urgencies

That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way, 

Gathered wisely into your inner ground; 

That you may not waste the invitations

Which wait along the way to transform you. 

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, 

And live your time away to its fullest; 

Return home more enriched, and free

To balance the gift of days which call you. 

John O'Donohue

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Living Dharma

Why cling to some idea

or philosophy uttered

thousands of years

(or maybe just a moment) ago?

Why, when there is already

this explosion of life,

would we ever look back?

The real dharma lives here,

breathing as this that has

never been seen

or heard before - 

this symphony of sounds

and sensations right now - 

the rustle of leaves, 

a chorus of birds,

the ache in my back,

the rush of color everywhere,

this wondrous mystery of thought,

appearing then disappearing

like everything else...

This is the living dharma, 

this timeless presence

that welcomes everything

that has come before but

is defined by none of it - 

every teaching, every tradition, 

the words you are reading now,

all of them, gone, 

consumed in the fires

of this living truth...

John Astin

Photo:  Peter Bowers

...for this pure delight

the flower can only wait

for the bee to arrive

yet passion appears from nowhere

to play hide and seek with peace

all that is gained is lost once again

timeless dreams are swallowed 

in the yawn of an awakened sleeper

yet spring arises like a phoenix

from the ashes of winter

all that is lost was never real

is the heart big enough

for the source of weeping

is the heart big enough

for this pure delight

Nirmala

Photo:  Peter Bowers

This World

I could never choose,

Even if it were possible, 

A moment in which to leave this world. 

For there will forever be, 

Wonder upon wonder,

Beauty upon beauty.

And yes... trial upon trial,

Sorrow upon sorrow, 

And an ocean of those in need.

Unfathomable Beauty

Immeasurable Suffering, 

And the movement of Loving Kindness.

This stew of all possibilities.

Flowing like a river into form,

From the Ocean of...

Chuck Surface

Photo:  Peter Bowers

You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?

How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?

What scent of old wood hovers, what softened

sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world

than the breathing respect that you carry

wherever you go right now?  Are you waiting

for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this

new glimpse that you found; carry into evening

all that you want from this day.  This interval you spent

reading or hearing this, keep it for life - 

What can anyone give you greater than now,  

starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

William Stafford 

This...

This is now.  Now is, 

all there is. Don't wait for Then; 

strike the spark, light the fire. 

Sit at the Beloved's table, 

feast with gusto, drink your fill

then dance

the way the branches

of jasmine and cypress

dance in a spring wind.

Rumi