Last Night as I was Sleeping (Antonio Machado)

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt  - marvelous error! -
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of new life,
that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!-
that I had a beehive,
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt- marvelous error!-
that a fiery sun was giving light
inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt 
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!-
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

Art by Daniel Holeman

Your Daily Emerson

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, 
drink the wild air."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your Daily Emerson

Your Daily Rumi

The Silence of Winter

WINTER SOLSTICE

Journeying around the sun,
at Yule, she turns furthest from the light.
Here In the dark of the long night she is veiled,
and here she comes to the fullness of her union with creation.
To enter is to hold Death closest to our hearts.
And as we do, Death has her sensuous way.

Slowly, we come to a clearing, and the solstice.
And in deep stillness, we enter.
Our journey from the sun has come to its full,
and we wait in a rare quality of quietness.
Time is no more.

Here in this place, we gently slip into the emptiness, and depth of the void,
and bathe in the energies of creation.
when we are cleansed, and fully drunken from the cup,
she continues on her journey around, and we edge back closer to the light.
slipping out through her veils in birth, we are new, and journeying to the sun.

–Martin Jones

image courtesy of http://bwlibys.blogspot.com

Your Daily Gibran

The teacher who is indeed wise 

does not bid you to enter his house of wisdom 

but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.  

Khalil Gibran

image courtesy of mustardseedbudget.wordpress.com

Wearing the World Like a Loose Garment

Letting Go of Attachments

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226 ce) is credited with the saying “Wear the world like a loose garment." 

In order to be truly free, it is beneficial to cultivate a relationship to external events where clinging does not occur, and to see that anything outside of the self which is seen as providing security is temporal at best. This approach to life doesn't imply ambivalence or lack of participation, but rather suggests that it is when we become attached that we suffer as attachment lends itself to disappointment due to failed expectations.

The first step is becoming willing to let go of anything: people, objects, and expectations. We begin to let go of looking outside of ourselves for satisfaction and pleasure, understanding that our true sense of joy is within. And, contrary to what at first may seem as negative or indifference, letting go of our attachments creates the chance to experience life without imposing our hopes, needs, dreams, wants, desires, and expectations on others which then creates freedom all around. The freedom to choose, both for ourselves and for others.

Byron Katie wisely says "As long as we continue to resist reality we will suffer". When we wear the world like a loose garment we are accepting reality without the need to change it and this is where suffering ends and freedom begins.