To tell a story is to say: this is the important story. It is to reduce the spread and simultaneity of everything to something linear, a path.

To be a moral human being is to pay, be obliged to pay, certain kinds of attention.

When we make moral judgments, we are not just saying that this is better than that. Even more fundamentally, we are saying that this is more important than that. It is to order the overwhelming spread and simultaneity of everything, at the price of ignoring or turning our backs on most of what is happening in the world.

The nature of moral judgments depends on our capacity for paying attention — a capacity that, inevitably, has its limits but whose limits can be stretched.

But perhaps the beginning of wisdom, and humility, is to acknowledge, and bow one’s head, before the thought, the devastating thought, of the simultaneity of everything, and the incapacity of our moral understanding — which is also the understanding of the novelist — to take this in.

~Susan Sontag

how will you cultivate calm in the harsh wild of your life?

inquiry for today~   and what you seek, you find……

what is timeless

The word refuge means place of shelter. I’m talking about the kind of shelter that lets you get in touch with your deepest Self, especially at times when you feel lost or overwhelmed. What defines a refuge? First, it should help you feel safe, even protected. Second, it should help you feel safe, even protected. On a normal day, it helps you stay connected to your center, to peace, or to the feeling that other human beings share your concerns. On a bad day, your place of refuge can restore your soul. A true space of refuge can also function as a kind of cocoon, where you retreat to do the sort of self-examination that leads to inner change. The mystic poet Kabir speaks of this Presence as “the breath inside the breath.” His point is that it is always closer than you think. And notice that as you get accustomed to taking refuge in Presence, you feel more grounded and at ease in the world.

~Sally Kempton