Course of Mirrors

May 8, 2011 · 2:48 pm

my favourite prayer

Why pray? You may ask. Why not? I’d say. Prayer is communicating with the most intimate friend I can imagine, a wise friend, not concerned with temporary matters, a friend I postulate to exist outside of time and also hidden in matter, a friend who is truly connected with the only being (some call it god, I call it the one intelligence, or ‘the friend.’ Meister Eckhart and Franz von Assisi expressed it most clearly … god looks at you the way you look at god … Is there anything to lose? No. Is there anything to gain? No. Prayer is beyond loss and gain, it is a creative leap into the unknown. What you project looks back at you as from a mirror.

My experience convinces me that psychic existence prevails beyond any one physical form in space or my limited perception in time, and beyond any mirror.

Here is my favourite prayer:

* * * *

Thy Wish

Let Thy wish become my desire,

Let Thy will become my deed,

Let Thy word become my speech Beloved

And Thy love become my creed.

* * * *

Let my plant bring forth Thy flowers,

Let my fruit produce Thy seed,

Let my heart become Thy lute Beloved

And my body Thy flute of reed.

* * * *

Hazrat Inayat Khan

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May 6, 2011 · 11:20 pm

my theory of everything on a strange day

It’s Toes Speak – TOE – Theory of Everything.

Today I looked at my toes with admiration – and they talked to me …

I’m the great toe – I even have a name, Hallux. I’m strong, a little rigid, maybe, but strong and reliable. I rule the pack. I can move somewhat independently. I don’t like sudden surprises, like being hit by a doorframe or a curb. My influence reaches right up to the crown of this body. Warmth flows up and back down in circles.

I’m the travel-toe – the longest of five. I have ideals. Did you know, the Statue of Liberty has its second toe longer than the third? Some say it’s a deformity, others say it’s the Greek ideal of beauty. My neighbour, the great toe, stands by me. I’m the standard-bearer of the future, the one who dreams beyond horizons. I have knowledge but don’t know what it is I know. I focus ahead and don’t look back.

I haven’t got a name, other than the third toe along the line. I’m a master of diplomacy, and balance. I fit in, adjust, and harmonise the whole foot. I’m most ticklish.

I’m the fourth toe, graceful, and sensitive. I suffer from chilblains when it’s cold. I enjoy harmony the most.

I’m the little toe. I hold the foot together and give beauty to it, which means I have little in the way of freedom. I’m too loyal to beauty.

We all have doubles, twins, which is kind of reassuring.

As I said, it’s been a strange day, and now my heel is jealous, must send it some love.

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May 1, 2011 · 10:19 pm

An image keeps returning …

I can’t remember where and when I saw the image, but it has stayed alive in my mind.

The black and white photograph is of a young woman stepping over a dry stone wall in an arid field on a Greek island. She wears a short embroidered vest over a white blouse, together with a medium-long skirt and laced boots. Her dark hair is neatly gathered back and braided. It may be Sunday and she is on her way to visit a friend, a relative, a lover. Whatever her destination, she means to get there the shortest way possible, without diversion. What strikes me about the woman is her clean aura. It shows in the way she dresses, in the way she holds herself upright, in the easy way she strides across the low wall, in her fine and strong face and in her eyes, eyes set on the horizon, eyes holding gentle presence and clear intention. It is a woman who knows where she wants to go. The image left a deep impression in me, and it keeps returning as an inspiration, an emblem of clear intention, beauty in motion.

Much of our lives ricochet between boredom and anticipation, excitement and depression, or waiting, mostly waiting … all tied into our changing ideals … but moments of clear intention are rare and wonderful. They bring peace to the mind.

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April 30, 2011 · 11:19 am

soul garden

at times I glimpse her

from the corner of my eye

in the garden chair

she shows today

smiles at the blossom-rain

mild air everywhere

a soul-scent

spreads as a rose opens

and opens …

I look again and she’s gone

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April 28, 2011 · 12:34 am

blissful Easter time

my son and his friend, wading in the stream after a run

Waggons Wells

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April 24, 2011 · 8:41 am

webs and networking

Some time ago I took this photo of a carefully designed spider net in my garden.

I have a serious question – it seems to me that spider webs are deteriorating. They still do the job of catching food, but they are irregular, arbitrary and carelessly designed. Is it my looking, is it that I tend to come upon haphazardly made nets as a reflection of my own state of mind, or is it a general condition of our time reflected in nature?

And yes, there are as many metaphors here as you wish to apply, the general lack of human engagement, the lack of stillness and concentration, and the virtual meaninglessness which pervades so much of our web and networking activities included.

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April 23, 2011 · 9:45 am

what would you do?

this is a dream shared by Cara, which Ana recorded in her diary. The dream appears in chapter 23 of – Course of Mirrors – when Rufus gets hold of Ana’s diary …

I am a passenger on a large vessel that is sinking. Its bow gradually keels under. At about 90 degrees, the movement stops. I look through the porthole at stern and discover why. The ship’s anchor is caught on a protruding rock. A hammer hangs next to the porthole. I can smash the glass and save myself. But I must alert others. Who can I trust? If word of rescue spreads, the panic will bring a stampede of passenger to this porthole. The balance of weight would be upset and dislodge the precarious hold the anchor has on the rock. We would all sink to the bottom of the ocean.

A vexing problem … ?

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April 20, 2011 · 9:48 pm

unique moments that nourish

I didn’t hear the knock. Around lunchtime I found surprises in the porch – the Mexican hammock I ordered – arriving on this perfect sunny day, and a book – The Four Elements – by John O’Donohue, sent by a friend as present. And it’s not even my birthday.

So here’s heaven – the stillness of a garden, being held snug in the the most comfortable thrice woven, rainbow-coloured hammock , suspended between earth and sky, belonging to my inner world, watching the blue space through treetops with tiny swirls of apple blossoms landing on my hands and book pages.

I read J. O’Donohue … the primary world … the world that is invisible … within us … And he talks of Meister Eckhart … Nowness … ah … and he quotes some of my favourite poems … The Tyger by Blake … The Song of Wandering Aengus by Yeats …

This afternoon, all my multiple selves enjoyed peace, a unique and deeply nourishing moment of gentle movements in the silence of my garden.

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April 20, 2011 · 10:43 am

learning to use their imagination should be mandatory for politicians

A UK government spokesman says, ‘… it takes a lot to grow a business.’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/17/environment-green-laws-red-tape

It takes a lot more to grow human beings … since the last century we have mindlessly implemented deep and longterm damage to our planet’s self-regulating system. Such power requires the moral and ethic responsibility to take the wellbeing of future generations into account.

A diverse gene pool provides the resources to survive adverse conditions. Effects that cause a loss in genetic diversity risk extinction of whole species – including us.

Put the red tape where it belongs. Why, for example, does a council fine people for having a sack stick out of a wastebin yet allows businesses to pollute our water and air, and destroy for generations to come the ecological balance of the one body we are all part of ?

you can use your vote …

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/dont-scrap-environment-laws