Love

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
Franklin P. Jones

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
Plato

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
Robert Frost

If you have it [Love], you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have.
Sir James M. Barrie

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
Henry Louis Mencken

Love is a friendship set to music.
E. Joseph Cossman

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
Voltaire

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking

outward together in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

You don't love a woman because she is beautiful,

but she is beautiful because you love her.
Anonymous

Love is a given, hatred is acquired.
Doug Horton

The best and most beautiful things in the world

cannot be seen or even touched -

they must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller

If you would be loved, love and be lovable.
Benjamin Franklin

Some love lasts a lifetime. True love lasts forever.
Unknown

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa

Hymn to the Night

I HEARD the trailing garments of the NightSweep through her marble halls!

I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls!

I felt her presence, by its spell of might, Stoop o'er me from above;

The calm, majestic presence of the Night, As of the one I love.

I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight, The manifold, soft chimes,

That fill the haunted chambers of the Night, Like some old poet's rhymes.

From the cool cisterns of the midnight airMy spirit drank repose;

The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,

--From those deep cisterns flows.O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear

What man has borne before!

Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,

And thy complain no more.

Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!

Descend, with broad-winged flight,

The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,

The best-beloved Night!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Out of the Valley of the West, upon their snow-white steeds,
and into ancient legends passed bright men with shining deeds.
Their heralds, made of cloth-of-gold trailed bright banners
in the seaward breeze that spoke of hoary years of old
and a history of times unseen.

Bright Kings of aeons past were they,
who ruled beyond the Western Sea and slew great daemons,
and lived with fey in years of unknown centuries.
Their look was wise, their carriage proud,
their armour held a starry sheen,
their aged trumpets echoed loud as they rode in from the Sea.

Through hanging forests, deep and cold upon a winding,
unknown trailthey rode- noble, proud and bold.
Dark were the shadows upon their mail;
bright were their eyes and deep their brows,
their hair was gold, their faces pale-
they passed through grove and under boughout of the West,
where dreamships sail.

Briseis

Osho

Life

"The beauty of facing life unprepared is tremendous.
Then life has a newness, a youth; then life has a flow
and freshness. Then life has so many surprises.
And when life has so many surprises
boredom never settles in you."

The Search

Remember one thing: meditation means awareness.
Whatsoever you do with awareness is meditation.
Action is not the question, but the quality that you bring to your action.
Walking can be a meditation if you walk alertly.
Sitting can be a meditation if you sit alertly.
Listening to the birds can be a meditation if you listen with awareness.
Just listening to the inner noise of your mind can be a meditation
If you remain alert and watchful.
The whole point is: one should not move in sleep.
Then whatsoever you do is meditation.

Meditation

JUST ONE QUALITY of the Buddha has to be remembered. He consists only
of one quality: witnessing. This small word witnessing contains the whole of
spirituality. Witness that you are not the body. Witness that you are not
the mind. Witness that you are only a witness. As the witnessing deepens,
you start becoming drunk with the divine. That is what is called ecstasy.

Silence

The energy of the whole has taken possession of you. You are possessed, you are no more, the whole is. This moment, as the silence penetrates in you, you can understand the significance of it, because it is the same silence that Gautama Buddha experienced. It is the same silence that Chuang Tzu or Bodhidharma or Nansen.... The taste of the silence is the same. Time changes, the world goes on changing, but the experience of silence, the joy of it, remains the same. That is the only thing you can rely upon, the only thing that never dies.
It is the only thing that you can call your very being.”

The Disappearance of the Universe

Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world,

where starved and thirsty creatures come to die.

The Dead are not alive, and the living will not die.

You have a chance of finding your ways through the veils of forgetfulness,

back to where you belong.

Perception always involves some misuse of the mind,

because it brings the mind into areas of uncertainty.

The ego is nothing more then a belief about yourself.

Fear holds the world, Forgiveness sets it free.

Enlightenment is but recognition, not a change at all.

The experience of revelation is beyond this world

and can not be captured with words.

Miracles are all the same, the benefits for your mind

when you forgive are unimaginable to you.

The only illusion is the past and the future, there is,

and will always just be the now.

"The Disapperance of the Universe"

Gary R. Renard

Anytime...Anywhere...

Life can be found only in the present moment.
The past is gone,

the future is not yet here,
and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment,
we cannot be in touch with life.

Our own life is the instrument
with which we experiment with the truth.

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong.

Why not try and see positive things,

to just touch those things and make them bloom?

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness.
If you are attentive, you will see it.

The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air,
but simply walking on this earth.

The NOW: Eckhart Tolle

MLK: Wisdom

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.

Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.

Martin Luther King

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up
if thou wilt always look there.

Remember this-that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in
the performance of every act of life.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly;
and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue, and reasonable nature.

Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself!

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks,
but only at what he does himself,

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word
or lose your self-respect.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last.

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Amma

“A true devotee or disciple will have great humility and, because of this, will also possess a certain spiritual beauty. The beauty of spirituality lies in humility.”

“Devotion in principle means recognizing that it is the one and the same God who manifests in all living beings and in all the deities, in all names and forms. It means surrendering selflessly to Him. That is the kind of devotion we should have."


"Knowledge helps you to imbibe devotion with the proper understanding of its principles. You have to have wisdom if you want to taste devotion fully. But knowledge without devotion is bitter; it has no sweetness. Those who say, ‘I am everything,’ rarely have any compassion. Devotion contains compassion.”

Magic

It's in the snowflake skies of children's wishes.
It's in the music of children's laughter.
It's in the breathlessness of children's anticipation.
It's in the faith of children's embraces.

The magic of Christmas is here...
In the childlike wonder of us all.


Splendor

Ebony eve, silvered streets.
Lavender mist and icicle tears.
Visions of velvet, crimson and jade.
Golden glints in topaz thoughts.
Color it Christmas. Give it with love.


Someday

Perhaps it begins long before the first frost -
Somewhere between memory and reality.
It touches us with compassion
and whispers to us of hope.
It tiptoes into our hearts with elation
and opens our souls to faith.

Its name is Christmas and we have yet to learn
How to keep it close for more than
this one brief, shining moment.
Someday, perhaps...with love.


Come Home For Christmas

Unlock the door of your heart -
Enter the gentleness within.
Open the window of your soul -
Breathe in the season of miracles.
No matter how far you've traveled,
It's time to come home now,
Where Christmas abounds in love.

Merry Christmas to All

Mummers Dance

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,
and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
--Norman Vincent Peale

Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day,
encircling all our limited world like a magic ring,
left nothing out for us to miss or seek;
bound together all our home enjoyments, affections,
and hopes; grouped everything and
everyone round the Christmas fire,
and make the little picture shining in
our bright young eyes, complete.
-Charles Dickens

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past,
courage for the present, hope for the future.
It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow
with blessings rich and eternal,
and that every path may lead to peace.
-Agnes M. Pharo

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back
to the delusions of our childhood days,
recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth,
and transport the traveler back to his own fireside
and quiet home!
-Charles Dickens

The joy of brightening other lives,
bearing each others' burdens,
easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts
and lives with generous gifts
becomes for us the magic of Christmas.
-W. C. Jones

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:
the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
-Burton Hillis

Whatever else be lost among the years,
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing:
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
-Grace Noll Crowell

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts.
No matter how we may dread the rush,
the long Christmas lists for gifts and
cards to be bought and given--
when Christmas Day comes
there is still the same warm feeling
we had as children, the same warmth
that enfolds our hearts and our homes.
-Joan Winmill Brown

Christmas Eve was a night of song that
wrapped itself about you like a shawl.
But it warmed more than your body.
It warmed your heart... filled it, too,
with a melody that would last forever.
-Bess Streeter Aldrich

Christmas ... is not an eternal event at all,
but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.
-Freya StarkFrom

Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another.
The warmth and joy of Christmas,
brings us closer to each other.
-Emily Matthews

Christmas--that magic blanket
that wraps itself about us,
that something so intangible
that it is like a fragrance.
It may weave a spell of nostalgia.
Christmas may be a day of feasting,
or of prayer, but always
it will be a day of remembrance--
a day in which we think of everything
we have ever loved.
-Augusta E. Rundel

The merry family gatherings--
The old, the very young;
The strangely lovely way they Harmonize
in carols sung.
For Christmas is tradition time--
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all.
-Helen Lowrie Marshall

Cry the Dead

Slowly, the hole is filled with earth, tossed down first by the hands of the beloved and bereft, later shovelled in by anonymous workers - the workers are the only ones with dry eyes and unburdened hearts. His widow slowly drops a mourning bouquet over the fresh earth, while his daughter collapses in front of his marker, sobbing. Looking for support, the little girl reaches a hand to his tombstone, delicately tracing the engraving that served as his legacy and last words:

We are voices,
only voices now,
silent echoes of the vacant
Height,ephemeral,
whispers in the universal night.

We were bodies,
we were humans once,
and proudly drew our breath
along side companion humans -
comrades unto death.

And much like Flander's torch*
only our memories remain
to beg for some miraculous truce
while the world fights on,
the same.

We are voices, only voices now
soft midst wars' alarms
yet still we go on pleading
for a laying down of arms.

Briseis

http://briseis.blogster.com

The Dash

http://www.thedashmovie.com/

A Wish

If I could have my wishes,
If wishes did come true;
I would wish for happiness,
And a long full life for you.

I would wish for laughter,
And fill your life with song;
Then ask for peace and joy and love,
To follow you all day long.

Then I would ask for peaceful rest,
To visit you at night;
And that your every morning,
Dawn shimmering and bright.

I would ask for nothing,
To give back to myself;
As long as you are happy,
I want for nothing else.

For just to see contentment,
On your face and know you're fine;
Would truly satisfy me,
And bring joy to this heart of mine.

If I could have my wishes,
If wishes did come true;
I'd wish for the sun and the moon and the stars,
And I'd give them all to you.

Afzal

This Old House

It rests upon a gentle crest,
with stately elms embracing its breast.

Rising high above they spread their wings,
beholding in the dwelling the loved souls that sing.

At dawn they rise for the coming day’s toil,
turning the earth and cultivating the soil.

The bountiful orchards set ablaze,
attracts them there for a pause on the warm spring day.

Their flowers rise in glory, what a beautiful sight,
releasing their essence, the great breath of light.

The sun rests on the horizon in the west,
reminding them of the hard days coming rest.

The robins sing their goodnight song,
until once again the emergence of dawn.

Their souls in slumber released in flight,
This grand old house holds them dear to the night.

Kuan Gung

Dedicated to my departed grandparents who lived, loved and cared for the earth in this old house. The two most influential souls in my life...I miss them dearly.

Call of the Northern Stars

Beyond the furthest reaches of the pale,
distant beach,
farther than the Northlands,
there runs a golden creek.

And all about its banks grow
bushes bright and merry;
their riotous branches covered
with leaves of gold and crimson berries.

Robins, doves, and meadowlarks
in cheerful chorus sing,
the melody rises to the Sun-a far-off,
guilded ring.

Shadows fall at twilight and silver
coats the land-
the shining waters gently dim as
dusk settles in the sands.

And in the warm darkness,
while rose and sandalwood cloy,
in the shimmering starlight comes
the call of Joy.

Pulling you, calling you away
from the golden creek,
inviting you to come away
and find the dreams you seek.

Stirring breezes in the night
bring sudden, swift desire,
and night time's sensuous
beauty fills the heart with fire:

A passion for the wilds,
to walk forgotten ways-
to wieldthe ruins of a sword forged
in long-lost, ancient days.

To walk under the moon and dance
with immortality,
and from the lonely mountains top
hear an elfin melody

Untitled Imagination

Blow out the candle,
snuff and stifle starlight.
Quench the moon
and let your dream take flight.

Come, follow me let me lead you
on into the fantastical realm
where illusion reigns.

Follow the winding stair down,
beyond emotion,
turn your back on reality,
give night song your devotion.

Incense burns in the night pyre of melancholy,
ashes clean burdens off as you enter the Stygian plane.
Float upon the melody that fills this waking dream,
cross the hairline border between concrete and unseen.

Tread upon the field of immortal souls-
drink deeply the waters of eternity.
Embrace your journey out of mortal-bound seclusion.
But dwell in light a little more, and shine for the illusion.

Briseis
http://briseis.blogster.com/

Rumi

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

If your guidance is your ego, don't rely on luck for help.
You sleep during the day and the nights are short.
By the time you wake up your life may be over.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
Let yourself be silently drawn by the
stronger pull of what you really love.
Become the light.

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you,
not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.”

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.
First to let go of life.
Finally, to take a step without feet.”

Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.”

“Pilgrimage to the place of the wise is to find escape
from the flame of separateness.”

We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust”

Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.

The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.

The fragrance my friend, that floats to you this moment,
streams from the tent, of the secrets of God.

Buddha

See the truth, and you will see me.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.

I teach one thing and one only:
that is, suffering and the end of suffering.

Just as a mother would protect
with her life her own son, her only son,
so one should cultivate an unbounded mind
towards all beings, and loving-kindness
towards all the world.
One should cultivate an unbounded mind,
above and below and across, without obstruction,
without enmity, without rivalry.

"Unruly beings are as unlimited as space
They cannot possibly all be overcome,
But if I overcome thoughts of anger alone
This will be equivalent to vanquishing all foes.

We are not compelled to meditate by some outside agent,
by other people,or by God.
Rather, just as we are responsible for our own suffering,
so arewe solely responsible for our own cure.
We have created the situation in which we find ourselves,
and it is up to us to create the circumstances
for our release.