I have walked a quiet path today. I have done no great good, no great harm. I might have wished for more -- some dramatic occurance, something memorable. But there was no more. This was the day I was given, and I tried to meet it with a humble heart.
How little it seems. We seek perfection in our days, always wanting more for ourselves and our lives, and striving for goals unattainable. We live between the vast infinities of past and future in the thin shaft of light we call "today." And yet today is never enough.
Where does it come from, this strange unquenchable human urge for "more" that is both our blessing and our curse? It has caused us to lift our eyes to the heavens and thread together pieces of the universe until we can glimpse a shadow of the divine creation. Yet to gain this knowledge, we have sometimes lost the mystery of a cloud, the beauty of a garden, or the joy of a single step.
We must learn to value the small as well as the great.
In the book of Michah, the prophet says, "And what does the lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Confusious told his followers, "Bring peace to the old, have trust in your friends, and cherish the young."
Do we really need much more than this? To honor the dawn. To visit a garden. To talk to a friend. To contemplate a cloud. To cherish a meal. To bow our heads before the mystery of the day. Are these not enough?
The world we shape is the world we touch -- with our words, our actions, our dreams. If we should be so lucky as to touch the lives of many, so be it. But if our lot is no more than setting the table, or the tending of a garden, or showing a child a path in the woods, our lives are no less no worthy.
I crawl into bed, feel the growing warmth of the covers, hear the quiet rhythms of my wife's gentle breathing. Outside the wind blows soflty, brushing a branch from the birch against the house.
To do justice. To love mercy. To walk humbly.
To bring peace to the old. To have trust in our friends. To cherish the young.
Sometimes, it seems, we ask too much. Sometimes we forget that the small graces are enough...
Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the great silence alone.
I have risen early today. For in the distance, a faint glow paints the horizon. Dawn is coming, gently and full of prayer. I step quietly from my bed, alive to the silence around me. This is the quiet time, the time of innocence and soft thoughts. The childhood of the day. Now is the time I must pause and lift my heart--now, before the day fragments and my consciousness shatters into a thousand pieces. For this is the moment when the senses are most alive, when a thought, a touch, a piece of music can shape the spirit and colour the day.
But if I am not careful--if I rise frantic from my bed, full of small concerns--the mystycal flow of the imagination will be broken, the past and the future will rush in to claim my mind, and I will be swept up into life's petty details and myriad obligations. Gone will be the openness that comes only to the waking heart, and with it, the chance to focus the spirit and consecrate the day.
All the great spiritual traditions have known this. The Christain monastics remain silent until their first chant of morning praise. Muslims begin their day with petitions of humility and thanks. The Dakotah indians learned as children to walk in silence to a lake or a stream, splash water on their faces, then offer up a prayer towards the sun.
Our lives may not allow such exalted devotions. But something precious is lost if we rush headlong into the details of life without pausing for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day.
It need not be much. A prayer whispered quietly, a gentle touching of a plant or a flower, a momentary gaze upon a sleeping child, a seconds stillness in the presence of the light. Any of these will do. What is needed is only a pausing of the heart so the spirit can take wing and be lifted toward the infinite.
I walk silently toward the window, The darkness is lifting, A thin shaft of lavender has creased the horizon, setting the edges of the trees on fire with morning light. I pause and bow my head. For this brief moment, I am held in the hand of God, and I am sent forth into the morning with the poetry of possibility beating in my heart.
Oh wow,,, Wonderful poetry like that Vini,, thanks !!! Now,,,though Im not a Dak Indian,,, Each day I pour water and look up at the Sun and offer a Mantra !!!! I first take a few quick breaths upon rising,,, then tell myself and God,, My name is Raman and I am an addict,,, then I say the Serenity Prayer and then recite the Steps !!!! Well I think that will define my intentions for the day !!! At nite I sit in Silence and then sleep with the Serenity Prayer !!! The Third Step Prayer is the basis i try to live my life by !!! For a sad, stupid addict that i used to be,,, Im now real changed,,, seeing the other side of life !!!
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Raman an addict clean and serene just for today in NA Worldwide ; live to love and love to live the NA Way !!!
Hi Vini,,, im still waiting for your postal address to courier that hookah to you !!!
Just sent it Raman thankyou Brother.
I start my day usually in prayer of thanks for what I have and don't have, end my day with the Lord's Prayer , fall right to sleep usually shortly after, in peace.
I agree Raman most of us were pretty pathetic, thats changed now.
