Eternal Life...

 

Eternal Life is gained

by utter abandonment of one’s own life.

When God appears to His ardent lover,

the lover is absorbed in Him, 

and not so much as a hair of the lover remains.

True lovers are as shadows,

and when the sun shines in glory 

the shadows vanish away.

He is a true lover to God 

to whom God says

“I am thine and thou art Mine.”

~Rumi

academyofeuropeanarts.com

Lately The Realization ...

 

Lately the realization 

that it isn't me who is awakening, 

that awakening 

is taking over the "little me", 

that I am like a small stream 

that is merging into the ocean of love. 

When I think and feel this 

it removes many laws.

~J

academyofeuropeanarts.com

Recently, I Found...

 

Rembrandt Hamenszoon van Rijen

Recently, I found a wonderful book 

written by a Dr. Van Loon, 

who knew Rembrandt quite well. 

In it he quotes Rembrandt saying something like 

“Everything is alive, people, animals, 

trees, objects all the creation.” 

And that it is the job of the true artist 

to see this and then represent 

what he has seen in his art, 

so that he could share that with others.

~M

academyofeuropeanarts.com

I Know What It Is To Be Consumed ...

 I know what it is to be consumed 

by the lower while the soul watches in anguish. 

Thank heaven for the grace of the higher.

There's a beautiful prayer 

that was at the end of the movie 

"Don't Look Up". 

A comet is hurtling toward earth 

and will destroy it. 

A few scientists 

have been attempting to tell the public 

about this but the "powers that be" 

(news media, government, etc.) 

are making light of it. 

At the end of the movie the scientists 

and their loved ones are sitting together at dinner, 

knowing it's a matter of minutes before life ends. 

A prayer is offered and it is so beautiful:

 

“Dearest Father and Almighty Creator,

We ask for your grace tonight, 

despite our pride,

Your forgiveness, 

despite our doubt.

Most of all, Lord, 

we ask for your love 

to soothe us through these dark times. 

May we face whatever is to come 

in your divine will

with courage and open hearts of acceptance.”

 

What has been piercing me is the line: 

"we ask for your grace tonight, 

despite our pride". 

I don't have any more words 

to convey the power of this phrase, 

this prayer. 

I love it so 

and my heart opens up a bit more, 

opening up those closed chambers.

~M

academyofeuropeanarts.com

In The End...

In the end

we discover 

that to love and let go

can be the same thing.

~Jack Kornfield

academyofeuropeanarts.com

This Understanding ...

 

Mary Sonya Conti

This understanding 

that both good and evil can flip into its opposite 

is a great reminder of not being identified 

with either polarity in ourselves, 

as all are transient 

and to hold on to what is real. 

Dvekut means cleaving, 

holding onto the truth. 

Our inner world that transcends duality, 

bringing us to wholeness, 

grace, love, presence. 

~F

academyofeuropeanarts.com

I Have Experienced...

 

I have experienced the beauty of surrender, 

when pushed to the max of my own resources. 

The beauty of seeing 

what I cannot do is so powerful, 

the letting go of my own desires 

to the will of the higher, 

the AID of the higher. 

This relinquishing of control is so powerful -- 

a wave of relief comes in this surrender, 

and with it surprising gifts of help. 

I would not have known 

the direction my play could take 

if not for such moments, 

I would have missed 

so many seemingly impossible realities 

that can emerge 

when I get myself out of the way.

~J

academyofeuropeanarts.com

I Thought Of The Spirit...

 

Daria Prozorova

I thought of the spirit of the earth this morning. 

How she contains the storms, 

the tranquil seasons, 

the wars inside us and outside us, 

the fights for survival 

as one animal kills another to survive in the night. 

She holds the death, 

and the birth of life 

like a gorgeous container.

That seems for me the direction of my work. 

It’s a big work 

and I think I will learn this slowly 

for the rest of my life. 

Holding all of it without altering. 

Surrendering to all the parts of us -

in self-remembering, 

present to all worlds 

and let the rays of celestial influence 

bathe on us like the sun imparts 

her rays on us impartially. 

~S

academyofeuropeanarts.com

No Love...

“No love will possess me 

but the love of god, 

nor will I remember creatures 

or even my own being. 

If you cannot know yourself, 

how can you presume to understand 

those things which are above you?”

~Unknown

academyofeuropeanarts.com