A Persian Saying

He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool - shun him.

He who knows not and knows that he knows not can be taught - teach him.

He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep - wake him.

He who knows and knows that he knows is a prophet - follow him.

The Upanishads - 2

There is one Ruler, the Spirit that is in all things, who transforms his own form into many.  Only the wise who see him in their souls attain the joy eternal.
He is the Eternal among things that pass away, pure Consciousness of conscious beings, the One who fulfils the prayers of many.  Only the wise see him in their souls attain the peace eternal.
'This is That' - thus they realize the ineffable joy supreme.  How can 'This' be known?  Does he give light or does he reflect light?
There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; lightnings shine not there and much less earthly fire.  From his light all these give light, and his radiance illumines all creation.

                                                                      Extract from the Katha Upanishad, part 5.

When a man knows God, he is free: his sorrows have an end, and birth and death are no more.  When in inner union he is beyond the world of the body, then the third world, the world of the Spirit, is found, where the power of the All is, and man has all: for he is one with the ONE.

                                                                     Extract from the Svetasvatara Upanishad, part 1.

Briefly it enters, briefly it speaks.

I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years......

I am the maker, the lover, and the keeper......

When the young girl who starves
sits down to a table
she will sit beside me......

I am food on the prisoner's plate.....

I am water rushing to the well-head,
filling the pitcher until it spills.....

I am the patient gardener
of the dry and weedy garden.....

I am the stone step,
the latch, and the working hinge......

I am the heart contracted by joy....
the longest hair, white
before the rest.....

I am there in the basket of fruit
presented to the widow......

I am the musk rose opening
unattended, the fern on the boggy summit......

I am the one whose love
overcomes you, already with you
when you think to call my name.....

                                                           Jane Kenyon

Yet another clipping in my scrap-book from a while ago, no date, no origin.

In the Beginning

One evening recently I walked almost a mile under myriads of stars.  I found myself asking - " Where have all the stars come from?  When did they come into being?  What keeps them on their vast courses? "
A few years ago a lecture was given by Frank Jeffries, astronomer and scientist.
Here is a small extract :-

" Friends," he said, addressing his audience, " The greatest thinkers throughout the ages, including modern times, have utterly failed to give a satisfactory explanation as to how and when this world came into existence.  Whatever theory they have worked on, they have eventually come face to face with the necessity of a first cause  which they cannot define; so for ever they stumble along - and all the time, walking patiently behind them, hoping they will turn and look Him in the face, is the first cause, the Lord God of heaven and earth."

So there, alone with the stars and their maker I realised afresh that however unfashionable it may be the Book of Genesis gets amazingly near the truth - " In the beginning, God. "

This is from yet another slip of hand written paper, stuck in my scrapbook, with no date or author attached to it.  Another slip of paper adjacent to the above, written in the same hand has the initials- M.S. - in the bottom corner.  I believe they are from the late 1970's and would have been passed to me by a speaker at the Bon-Accord SNU Church.

The Lord's Prayer

In St.Matthew, Chap.6 Verses 9 - 13, the Christ instructs us " After this manner, therefore, pray."
Please allow me to look at the Lord's Prayer line by line.


Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
In this line we direct thought to the Creator God.  We acknowledge the source of the Spirit within us.  We concentrate and dedicate our thinking.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Do we not all know the beauty and perfection, the light, the love and peace of Spirit and surely would we not wish this to be the state of this earth-plane.  Indeed we heartily pray for it.

Give us this day our daily bread.
There are not many here who lack for food but sadly there are many without food in this world today, this should remind us of that fact.  A Camphill prayer also reminds us that - " Bread is not our food.  What feeds us in the bread is God's Eternal Word, His Spirit and His Life."
Our daily bread is both material and spiritual; we ask for the body, mind and spirit to be nourished.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
This reminds us that we can, and must, forgive ourselves first in order to forgive others, as we are also reminded to love others as we would wish to be loved.  Many of the world's woes, indeed our own woes, are deepened, hardened and ingrained by an unwillingness to let go, to move on in forgiveness.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
As Buddhists will affirm, desire is a fault in humankind.  The desire for power, the desire for what we should not have, do not need or for things that are not good for us anyway is almost endemic.  The disease, indeed the dis-ease, of the modern world is the wish to acquire and accumulate as much as possible of the worldly goods which are around us in abundance.  If some people do not have the wherewithal they will not hesitate to steal, maim or kill to get what they want.
We need this reminder also to resist the temptation to evil thoughts, words or actions which would eat away at ourselves and  our opinions of others.

For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever.
Again we acknowledge the Higher Force and that this is Eternal.  We also recognise that whereas material things are of the here and now, Spiritual gifts are forever.  We cannot pass through the portal with gold or possessions for we are born anew with the gifts of the Spirit we accumulate throughout our mortal passage.

Amen.
So be it.  Not by my will but by the will of Spirit.

                                                                                                                                R.E.B

Simplicity

Go on in all simplicity; do not be so anxious to win a quiet mind and it will be all the quieter.  Do not examine so closely into the progress of your soul.  Do not crave so much to be perfect, but let your spiritual life be formed by your duties and by the actions which are called forth by circumstances.

                                                                                                      St.Francis de Sales

Wedding

Ruth chap.1 verses 16&17.      Pokerwork on Sycamore by R.E.B

Sorry that I missed my usual post at the weekend but I was at a wedding; my wife's  niece Claire married her fiance Scott at Newton Hall in Northumberland.        www.newton-hall.com

Great setting, excellent service, great weather, handsome couple, stunning bride, good company, good food, what more can I say except that a great time was had by all.

The Holy Spirit

In the beginning all was void, and into the void came the sound; the Eternal Om.  The energy and vibration of sound was joined by the vibration and energy of light.  So sound and light were created for the foundation of the universe.  The Creator Spirit evolved all that is, so the Spirit of the Creator is in all things that are.  We are truly the sons and daughters of God (if that is the word you choose to use), but I prefer the Native American Indian concept of the Great Spirit - Divine Spirit.

Think of the universe, if you will, as an Ocean which is composed of unimaginable trillions of drops each created by the Divine, each infused by that Eternal breath of life. The Holy Spirit (Divine Spirit) is in all things and of all things. Every rock, grain of sand, drop of water, every creature and every human form.

The Holy Spirit is the sound, the light, the breath, the very being of all that is.  No life is life without it; but the elements (which are also infused) are of our Mother Earth bound to, and to the earth return - the Holy Spirit is eternal and continues in the Ocean of Spirit after earthly life.  This enables some to touch on earthly lives past and to infuse lives to come as within an Ocean the drops are mingled.

All of this is also infused with the great Love of the Great Spirit, so some say God is Love, so we who recognise the Spirit in all things also recognise the manifestation of God's Love in all things.

There is nothing that is created that is evil; evil is a manifestation of the free will of humankind, a temptation of opposites to educate the Spirit within each human being to recognise the Goodness and Love of the Creator.

The Holy Spirit is the force, the spark, the very being of God in everyone and everything.  If we are still we will recognise and acknowledge it in ourselves first so that we will recognise it in all that is and in that recognition we will grow ever nearer to the Eternal One.

Sent as an answer to Ashley when he asked me what I understood the Holy Spirit to be.

                                                                                                                                  R.E.B

Breathe in me, Holy Spirit.

Breathe in me, Holy Spirit, that I may think what is holy.
Move me, Holy Spirit, that I may do what is holy.
Attract me, Holy Spirit, that I may love what is holy.
Strengthen me, Holy Spirit, That I may guard what is holy.
Guard me, Holy Spirit, that I may keep what is holy.

                                                  St.Augustine of Hippo -   354 - 430 AD.