You are all things, and all things are your soul. —Conrad Aiken

    

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Out of my deeper heart a bird rose and flew skyward.
Higher and higher did it rise, yet larger and larger did it grow.

At first it was but like a swallow, then a lark, then an eagle, then as vast as a spring cloud, and then it filled the starry heavens.
Out of my heart a bird flew skyward. And it waxed larger as it flew.
Yet it left not my heart.


—Kahlil Gibran

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I am not this hair,

I am not this skin,

I am the soul that lives within.


—Rumi

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I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. 

We were all made by the same hand, and we have the same soul.


—Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist

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saying grace

  

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... when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart:

Your seeds shall live in my body,

And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,

And your fragrance shall be my breath,

And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.


―Kahlil Gibran

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the undressing

  

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Should you really
open your eyes and see,
you would behold
your image in all images…

And should you
open your ears and listen,
you would hear your own voice
in all voices…


—Kahlil Gibran

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The soul has been given its own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.

If you want to know who someone is, what is flowing through or not flowing, stay in a listening posture. 

Close your eyes inside your companion’s shadow. 


—Rumi

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the sea is also a breviary, it speaks of God. —Jean-Paul Sartre

Tanakit Suwanyangyaun

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And a poet said, Speak to us of Beauty.
And he answered:

Where shall you seek beauty, and how
shall you find her unless she herself be your
way and your guide?

And how shall you speak of her except
she be the weaver of your speech?

The aggrieved and injured say,
"Beauty is kind and gentle."

The tired and weary say,
"Beauty is of soft whisperings
She speaks in our spirit."

In winter say the snow-bound,
"She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."

All these things have you said of beauty,
Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,
And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.

It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.

It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather an image you see, though you
close your eyes and a song you hear, though
you shut your ears.

People of Orphalese,
beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.


—Kahlil Gibran
from The Prophet

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I said to the almond tree, ‘Sister, speak to me of God.’

And the almond tree blossomed.

—Nikos Kazantzakis 

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all possibilities of time

 

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Like a confluence of great rivers, our lives are a series of different moments, joining together to give the impression of one continuous flow. We move from cause and effect, event to event, one point to another - which gives an outward impression that our lives are one continuous, unified movement. 

In reality, they are not.

Each moment is born and dies. And in a very real way we are born and die with it. Creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin.


Frank Ostaseski
The Five Invitations

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And an astronomer said, Master, what of Time? And he answered: You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.

You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

—Kahlil Gibran

On Time

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Atoms are not things. —Werner Heisenberg

    

—Neil deGrasse Tyson

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All things in this creation exist within you, and all things in you exist in creation; there is no border between you and the closest things, and there is no distance between you and the farthest things, and all things, from the lowest to the loftiest, from the smallest to the greatest, are within you as equal things. 

In one atom are found all the elements of the earth; in one motion of the mind are found the motions of all the laws of existence; in one drop of water are found the secrets of all the endless oceans; in one aspect of you are found all the aspects of existence.


—Kahlil Gibran

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Amo: volo ut sis — I love you: I want you to be.

—St. Augustine of Hippo

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all things

    

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The earth is not a dead body, but is inhabited by a spirit that is its life and soul.

All created things, minerals included, draw their strength from the earth spirit.

This spirit is life, it is nourished by the stars, and it gives nourishment to all the living things it shelters in its womb.


—Basilius Valentinus
15th Century Benedictine
monk and alchemist

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All things in this creation exist within you, and all things in you exist in creation; there is no border between you and the closest things, and there is no distance between you and the farthest things, and all things, from the lowest to the loftiest, from the smallest to the greatest, are within you as equal things. 

In one atom are found all the elements of the earth; in one motion of the mind are found the motions of all the laws of existence; in one drop of water are found the secrets of all the endless oceans; in one aspect of you are found all the aspects of existence.


—Kahlil Gibran

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everyday gods

 

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Let us not speak now of God the Father. Let us speak rather of the gods, your neighbours, and of your brothers, the elements that move about your houses and your fields.

You would rise in fancy unto the cloud, and you deem it height; and you would pass over the vast sea and claim it to be distance. But I say unto you that when you sow a seed in the earth, you reach a greater height; and when you hail the beauty of the morning to your neighbour, you cross a greater sea.

Too often do you sing God, the Infinite, and yet in truth you hear not the song. Would that you might listen to the songbirds, and to the leaves that forsake the branch when the wind passes by, and forget not, my friends, that these sing only when they are separated from the branch! Again, I bid you to speak not so freely of God, who is your All, but speak rather and understand one another, neighbour unto neighbour, a god unto a god.

For what shall feed the fledgling in the nest if the mother bird flies skyward? And what anemone in the field shall be fulfilled unless it be husbanded by a bee from another anemone?

It is only when you are lost in your smaller selves that you seek the sky which you call God. Would that you might find paths into your vast selves; would that you might be less idle and pave the roads!

My mariners and my friends, it were wiser to speak less of God, whom we cannot understand, and more of each other, whom we may understand. Yet I would have you know that we are the breath and the fragrance of God. 

We are God, in leaf, in flower and, oftentimes, in fruit.


—Kahlil Gibran
excerpts from The Garden of The Prophet

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In order for us to use our power well, we must become a hollow bone. We must prepare ourselves to become a channel. Our channel must be clean before we can use our power well. We must be free of resentments, guilt, shame, anger, self pity and fear.

If these things are in us, we cannot be hollow bones. These things block us from our power. The cleaner we are, the more power we move. We must become a hollow bone so the Creator can use us to do what he wants us to do.

My Creator, remove from me today all resentment, anger, fear, guilt and selfishness. Do not let my weaknesses stand in the way of my usefulness to You. Make me a hollow bone so Your power can flow through me.


—Sparrow White Elk Raven

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listen

   

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Out of my deeper heart a bird rose and flew skyward.
Higher and higher did it rise, yet larger and larger did it grow.

At first it was but like a swallow, then a lark, then an eagle, then as vast as a spring cloud, and then it filled the starry heavens.
Out of my heart a bird flew skyward. And it waxed larger as it flew.
Yet it left not my heart.


—Kahlil Gibran

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