Work

                                         
                                                         Work by Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)

You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
   And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
   And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
   And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
   And all work is empty save when there is love;
   And when you work with love you blind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?
   It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
   It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
   It is to sow seeds with tenderness and to reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
   It is to change all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
   And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Often I have heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, 'He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
   'And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes sandals for our feet.'
   But I say, not in sleep, but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all blades of grass;
   And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible.
   And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
   For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.
   And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
   And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you must muffle man's ear to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
                                                Extract from 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran.

A Meditation

Your soul energy is given to you by your Earthly Mother and your Heavenly Father, illumined by Brother Sun and Sister Moon.
It is nurtured by the Angels of Air and of the Waters, of the Trees and of the Sky, also the Angels of Love, Peace and Healing.
This Power centres in your Soul and radiates to surround you.
This explains the energy centres and the aura.
                                                                                              R.E.B

Divine Spirit

                                                             Nine pointed star, Bahai.

An humble man without learning, but filled with the Holy Spirit, is more powerful than the most nobly-born profound scholar, without that inspiration.  He who is educated by the Divine Spirit can, in his time, lead others to receive the same Spirit.

I pray for you that you may be informed by the life of the Divine Spirit, so that you may be the means of educating others.  The life and morals of a spiritual man are, in themselves, an education to those who know him.

Think not of your own limitations, dwell only on the welfare of the Kingdom of Glory.  Consider the influence of Jesus Christ on His apostles, then think of their effect on the world.  These simple men were enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to spread the glad tidings!

So may you all receive Divine assistance!  No capacity is limited when led by the Spirit of God!

The earth of itself has no properties of life, it is barren and dry, until fertilized by the sun and the rain; still the earth need not bewail its own limitations.

May you be given life!  May the rain of Divine Mercy and the warmth of the Sun of Truth make your gardens fruitful, so that many beautiful flowers of exquisite fragrance and love may blossom in abundance.  Turn your faces away from the contemplation of your own finite selves and fix your eyes upon the Everlasting Radiance; then will your souls receive in full measure the Divine Power of the Spirit and the Blessings of the Infinite Bounty.

If you thus keep yourselves in readiness, you will become to the world of humanity a burning flame, a star of guidance, and a fruitful tree, changing all its darkness and woe into light and joy by the shining of the Sun of Mercy and the infinite blessings of the Glad Tidings.

This is the meaning of the Power of the Holy Spirit, which I pray may be bountifully showered upon you.

Taken from the writings of Abdu'l-Baha

Good Friday (I Trust in Thee)

9th. Century Irish High Cross, Drumcliffe Church, Co.Sligo, Ireland.

Unto thee, O Lord, I will lift up my soul; my God, I have put my trust in thee:

O let me not be confounded, neither let my enemies triumph over me.

For all they that hope in thee shall not be ashamed:

but such as transgress without a cause shall be put to confusion.

Shew me thy ways, O Lord: teach me thy paths.

Lead me forth in thy truth, and teach me:

for thou art the God of my salvation; in thee hath been my hope all the day long.

Call to remembrance, O Lord, thy tender mercies:

and thy loving-kindnesses, which have been ever of old.

                                                                                     Bible: Psalm 25, verses 1-6

Meander 2

                             

                  ' Meandering River ' Kobuk River, Alaska  photo by Karl F Herhold

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 I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.

Then you will call me.

You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you.

You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.

                                                      Jeremiah 29 v 11-13

                                  ___________________________________

All that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. 

                                                     Buddha

                                   ___________________________________

Walk straight the path, aim for the pure and high.  Fret not if others reap what you have sown.

Success is not by worldly honours shown; the only failure is to cease to try.

                                                                                                                   Anon

                                    ____________________________________

The life given us by nature is short; but the memory of a well spent life is eternal.

                                                                                                                          Cicero

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The fear of hell is hell itself, and the longing for paradise is paradise itself.

                                       ________

God has placed in each soul an apostle to lead us upon the illumined path.

Yet many seek life from without, unaware that it is within them.

                                        ________

We must not forget that there are still cave-dwellers; the caves are our hearts.

                                                       

                                                                                                                  Kahlil Gibran

                                    

Upanishads 3

There is a bridge between time and Eternity; and this bridge is Atman, the Spirit of man.  Neither day nor night cross that bridge, nor old age, nor death nor sorrow.
Evil or sin cannot cross that bridge, because the world of the Spirit is pure.  This is why when this bridge has been crossed, the eyes of the blind can see, the wounds of the wounded are healed, and the sick man becomes whole from his sickness.
To one who goes over that bridge, the night becomes like unto day; because in the worlds of the Spirit there is a Light which is everlasting.

There is a Spirit which is pure and which is beyond old age and death; and beyond hunger and thirst and sorrow.  This is Atman, the Spirit in man.  All the desires of this Spirit are Truth.  It is this Spirit that we must find and know: man must find his own Soul.  He who has found and knows his Soul has found all the worlds, has achieved all his desires.

                                                    Extract from the Chandogya Upanishad

The Power of Prayer

.........The mind is the eye of the world.  When the mind changes, the world is different.  In a transferred sense, the prayerful presence transfigures everything.  We will never understand the power of our prayer to effect change and to bring shelter to others.
We should pray also for those who suffer each day: those in prison, hospital, mental institutions, refugees, prostitutes, the powerful, the destroyers.  There are so many broken places where our prayer is needed each day.  We should be generous with our prayer.  It is important to recognize the extent and intensity of spirit that prayer awakens and sends out.
Prayer is not about the private project of making yourself holy and turning into a shining temple that blinds everyone else.  Prayer has a deeper priority which is, in the old language, the sanctification of the world of which you are a privileged inhabitant.  By being here you are already a custodian of sacred places and spaces.  If you could but see what your prayer could do, you would always want to be in the presence that it awakens.

.......The sun is the mother of life. She gives her light so generously and evenly all over the earth.  Like the sun each one of us should share the light of our souls with generosity.

                                                Extract from "Eternal Echoes" by John O'Donohue.

Free Thyself

There was a Master once who said, "Know ye not that I must be about My Father's business?"  meaning that He must obey His Divinity and not His earthly parents.

.......and our own work, when we find it, so belongs to us, so fits us, that it is effortless, it is easy, it is a joy: we never tire of it, it is our hobby.  It brings out in us our true personality, all the talents and capabilities waiting within each one of us to be manifested: in it we are happy and at home; and it is only when we are happy (which is obeying the commands of our soul) that we can do our best work.
  We have already found our right work, then what fun life is!  Some from childhood have the knowledge of what they are meant to do, and keep it throughout there lives: and some know in childhood, but are deterred by contra-suggestions and circumstances, and the discouragement of others.  Yet we can all get back to our ideals, and even though we cannot realise them immediately we can go on seeking to do so, then the very seeking will bring us comfort, for our souls are very patient with us.  The right desire, the right motive, no matter what the result, is the thing that counts, the real success.
  So if you would rather be a farmer than a lawyer; if you would rather be a barber than a bus-driver, or a cook than a greengrocer, change your occupation, be what you want to be: and then you will be happy and well, then you will work with zest, and then you will be doing finer work as a farmer, a barber, a cook, than you could ever achieve in the occupation that never belonged to you.
  And then you will be obeying the dictates of your Spiritual self.

                                 Extracted from the writings of Dr.Edward Bach (1886-1936)

Camphill Prayers 2

                                                            Prayer before the meal.

The plant seeds are quickening in the might of the earth.
The green herbs are sprouting in the might of the air.
And all fruits are ripened by the power of the sun.

So quickens the soul in the shrine of the heart.
So blossoms spirit power in the light of the world.
So ripens man's strength in the Glory of God.
                                                                        Amen.
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The Peace of Christ - Be upon each thing
Our eye takes in - Upon each thing
Our mouth takes in
Upon our body which is of earth
Upon our Spirit which is of God.    
                                                    Amen.

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Earth who gave to us this food,
Sun who made it ripe and good,
Dear Earth, Dear Sun,
By you we live
To you our loving thanks we give.
                                                        Amen