Tag Archives: soul work

filling the well & leaks & doubt

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a vessel for emptiness

Back to square one is the starting point of any genuine expression. Genuine square one is when you realize the desolateness, the spaciousness for that which is completely devoid of any feedback. You have finally confronted your good old self. This type of square one is primordial, the genuine one. There is no reference point…..Chogyan Trungpa

this reminds me of our own innate knowing & the responsibility to not deplete its arsenal of awareness….those leaky places which empty our loving places, cause us to surrender our authority & limit our longings….

Things Considered when Filling the Well….

holding the moon tight

finding that perfect corner to watch the world in silence

gathering flowers

sometimes it’s Rilke…sometimes it’s Nietzsche…..

sometimes it’s Charlie Brown…

remembering you have a couch & using it to rest

regarding all as a dream

cookies & milk

sand & wave & shells

starting over, beginning again, & forgetting why…

glossing over naked reality for awhile…

yoga, yoga, yoga…

sitting with true purpose

writing lists

checking out holy places in everyone you know

looking for the bottomless wild

remembering that floating comes before growing

Most of us never received a wise & mature introduction to the immense challenges, privileges, & possibilities of the life we entered into. Developing discernment helps us learn life’s lessons more clearly & quickly, turn challenges into opportunities & avoid unnecessary obstacles. We can then say, I have lived a good life, that I have touched &

I have been touched by……life.

Mariana Caplan

iconic discernment & our conflicts with meaning

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icons & meaning

In all ten directions of the universe,

there is only one truth.

When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.

What can ever be lost? What can be attained?

If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.

If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us….

…..Ryokan

what does it mean to be disconnected from the soul? how can it be a question which clearly connects to all spiritual faiths?

truth is not afraid of questions…

I see the iconic image as paradoxical….consolidating cultures..yet also an archetype of courage which then can leave us hanging, because we do not have the tools to transcend the pitfalls of self-development, spiritual growth, & fledgling faith….

it seems our sacred task is to integrate an alchemy of growth on many levels…….our individual selves…our traditons…our stories…

to draw out our wisdom…

deeper clarity as principle or passion?

it is undeniable…the authenticity of an iconic image….

veiled, bowed, ritualistic & stuporous in prayer….

regardless of the profound emotions created….

spiritual transformation or mythologizing?

 If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

….Jesus Christ, The Gospel of Thomas…

fearlessness, wonderment & a little glitter

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offbeat

……it’s an off-kilter, swishy, cool, funky, free-wheelin’, mardi-gras dancin’, sweet moon, mess-in-the-studio, shake it up, belly laugh, wearin’ glitter…..

….kind of feelin’….

….it has something to do with love…& the fullness of life…

Love is the secret you unmask yourself to find, the destination where all roads of the journey lead. Dig up the acorn that holds the indestructible seeds of your genius & your joy. Rewrite your victim story. String the beads of your life necklace with care & compassion, faith & fearlessness. Cultivate a sense of wonder…..Elizabeth Lesser

write your own story….

charm your way into your own dance,

your own nuance, your own magic….

gather your beads, write your own story…..

while gathering soul,

I prefer a cool mask with feathers, lots of glitter, & a boa….

.

the voice of holding on….killing the scream…

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holding on to the last day's rays

We can be lost intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually. It’s not unusual to feel lost in the middle of our lives while sitting in our own living room. Lost souls. But being lost is not at all a bad thing….if you know how to benefit from it spiritually. In the Western world, where ‘progress is our most important product,’ we are encouraged from our earliest years to know exactly where we are at all times & precisely where we are going. When wandering, there is immense value in ‘finding ourselves lost’ because we can find something when we are lost, we can find our selves. Indeed, the deepest form of wandering requires that we be lost. The art of being lost is not a mattter of merely getting lost, but rather being lost & enthusiastically surrendering to the unlimited potential of it. This ushers you more fully into the now. Your life then suddenly suffers a radical simplification. You quiet down inside & it becomes easier to hear the voice of the soul…..Bill Plotkin

The ‘path’ we are on is such an illusion…

it’s kind of like dreams about falling…then waking up…

it’s kind of like running out of chocolate….then pretending it’s ok…

it’s kind of like sitting down in the middle of your mess, giving up…..then finally asking for help….

holding on to the the last day’s rays….savor that last bit of light….

It is the universal statement of a star,

the message Orion

has carried

in winter

through the ages:

It is the dark

which illuminates

…Lyn Dalebout

souls don’t drown, & hearts float up….

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tentative....

I love cats partly because of their inherently quiet & meditative state…

Like them, I need quiet….need to be unplugged, (funny in the blog world yes?) & in my own innate space….this says what we inherently know….

When alone, a layer falls away…& a natural kind of meditation lifts us up…our heart opens….we see things from a new vantage point…

All because we have allowed space to happen……we meet ourselves again & again…

When a person encounters her individual soul, we say she has uncovered her unique gifts, her destiny, her life purpose, or personal meaning. Through soul encounter, she learns why spirit & nature gave birth to her particular way of belonging to the world……Bill Plotkin

That melancholy place is a marvel of your own radiant drowning….

& the soft space curled up with a cat….

peeking ’round shadows….

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shadow work

The journey through the Landscape of the Soul changes one’s perspective. Seeing ourselves & the world from the heights of spiritual insight makes everything more real. It’s not so much that anything changes; rather, things become more fully what they already are. We don’t transform ourselves; we become ourselves. We journey into the Landscape of the Soul so that our life here in the world might reflect the unity & love we touched on in our communion with God. Wherever we go on our spiritual journey, all roads lead back to our humanness……Elizabeth Lesser

Awakening discernment is strangely non-coherent. Unspeakable really. A subtle opening, coming out from shadows….touching the morning dew rather than just seeing it…..like realizing you haven’t missed a thing….

It’s all simply right where you need it to be….

To understand all is to forgive all…..Voltaire

organic unity & the cohesiveness of beauty…

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humble gifts...

Aristotle said that like a plant, a work of art is an intricate arrangement of parts, all of which contribute to the whole. The roots, stem, leaves & blossom are all necessary. ‘So a work of art..a play, for instance….is made up of parts, all of which ideally contribute to the whole. The interconnection & interarrangment of parts comes from within the organism; it is not imposed from the outside. Thus successful works of art can be said to have an organic unity…that is, the arrangement of parts seems to have come from the work itself, not to have been superimposed by a creator or viewer…..This defines ‘organic unity.’…….Marcia Muelder Eaton….Basic Issues in Aesthetics

This sweet spot comes from the place of longing…the place we cannot name….the place we find ourselves mid-story….beyond us….a feeling like nostalgia….like the attempt to name the infinite….

coming from humble places with humble gifts….

 

the value of emotional seasons

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watching the world go by...

Insight into spiritual truth is not difficult to come by, but the purification & the shattering of illusions that must be undergone by those who commit their lives to the integration of that truth is a momentous undertaking. The heroic inner leaps that every spiritual warrior is asked to make, are far more easily reflected upon than accomplished. Whether we are talking about the need to drop the sense of insecurity, disidentify with ego, let go of the hope of salvation, or allow our concepts & constructs about what spirituality is to fade, these are processes that span many years, even if we have first had very clear insight into their principles……Mariana Caplan

It is quite powerful to simply sit & watch the world go by…to reflect upon the daunting tasks…to see the roleplaying we all do…the phases that pass through us…then to let it all go & play awhile…..adding a little costuming to the great adventure….

this too shall pass as they say….

 

it’s a beautiful day…

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big sky...big life...

the waiting of winter, of soul’s light…captured in this luminous poem…

Eye Mask…

In this dark I rest,

unready for the light which dawns

day after day,

eager to be shared.

Black silk, shelter me.

I need

more of the night before I open

eyes & heart

to illumination. I must still

grow in the dark like a root

not ready, not ready at all.

Denise Levertov

it’s a haunting day…..ethereal & moving…

…’soul making’ wrote philosopher Jean Houston, ‘is not necessarily a happy thing. Crucial parts of it are not. We need to hold onto the celebration of becoming, to the bliss that wells up from the deeper places we’re tapping…I stared into the night, my heart pounding…..Sue Monk Kidd

don’t forget…it’s a beautiful day… 

the wishy washy groove….

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the inertia of light & water....floating up...

there is nothing about open sky that is wishy washy…. 

yet the attempt to understand the push & pull of sky to water is taut & tense….blurred by the sun’s glare reflecting back at us…

“… I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply moulding one’s inner life. And that too is a deed.”

—Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life

this is the humble day to day groove….not so sweet as a hot air balloon ride….not so easy to just float away with a champagne toast in our wishy washy places….

this is the courage needed to simply know where the sky & water are pulling you…

Is My Soul Asleep?
Is my soul asleep? Have those beehives that work in the night stopped? And the water- wheel of thought, is it going around now, cups empty, carrying only shadows?
No, my soul is not asleep. It is awake, wide awake. It neither sleeps nor dreams, but watches, its eyes wide open far-off things, listens at the shores of the great silence…..Antonio Machado

it is so January time…..bare reflection…much needed….