The Desert...

 

The desert has significance 

for many teachers in history. 

This is the place where the machine is tested, 

put behind the Soul. 

That’s what I meant yesterday by, 

“I came to the desert to crucify the ego.” 

The lamb and lion

are battling for who is in charge. 

The lamb must win.

~E

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

Faith Is So Important...

 

Faith is so important 

and also trusting in the unknown 

in order to let acceptance enter one’s life. 

As Christ is known to be the Good Shepherd, 

the sheep (the soul) recognizes his voice 

and accepts the way it is led. 

Like a sheep would follow a shepherd 

because without knowing or seeing, 

he trusts that the shepherd 

will bring him to new pastures and fresh grass, 

we must trust His voice and call, 

accepting that we may at times 

have to take rough roads and long walks 

before the reward will come.

~A

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

A Desert Can Be...

 

Andrew Wyeth

A desert can be a great opportunity to grow. 

It can develop and strengthen our work, 

our inner world. 

Some months ago 

I was sent to a kind of desert, 

where I was constantly confronting solitude, 

many times without being able 

to experience the joy I used to feel in Mexico. 

However, I can say that in this arid period 

my machine developed the ability to surrender, 

embracing acceptance, Faith, and Hope, 

and finally realizing that we can apparently be alone, 

but there is somebody who is always with us: God. 

Trusting Him, holding His hand, loving Him, 

has strengthened my inner world 

in ways I would have never imagined.

~A

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

If I Can Stop...

 

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain.

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin,

Unto its nest again, 

I shall not live in vain. 

~Emily Dickinson 

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

 

To Make Quiet Inside...

 

Vincent Van Gogh

"To make quiet inside". 

Gurdjieff isn't advising to stop associations, 

but to quiet them. 

So important. 

I feel the associations receding into the background. 

That leaves room for the higher to enter 

or the real part of me to come into being. 

It helps me to gain a foothold 

(or a least a toehold!) into this exercise. 

Associations can be likened to clouds 

moving across the sky. 

Both shift and change. 

Where am I? 

In what part of myself am I residing?

~M

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

The Kingdom...

 

The kingdom, 

it can't be built through conflict. 

Not by opposition, 

not by destruction. 

It grows with us 

with every act of love and care with our forgiveness. 

We have the power to lift the people 

just as He did 

and then we will be free just as He is.

~Mary Magdalene

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

At The End...

 

Leonardo DaVinci

 

 At the end of Mervyn's life he did a lecture. 

His main accumulator was low 

and he would die in a few months, 

knowing also that he had pain in his hip 

that was a constant. 

And there He was. 

You never sensed his pain or low accumulator. 

He kept it invisible.

Something of how these conscious beings Worked 

really touches me. 

And I am inspired 

for I know deep down 

that my machine takes over a lot. 

Knowing this is so important 

and then becoming vigilant 

and having will and Aim to Work with it is the next step.

~S

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

The Stoic Wisdom of Seneca the Younger

 

Seneca the Younger

A gem cannot be polished without friction, 

nor a man perfected without trials.

~

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, 

it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

~

Wherever there is a human being, 

there is an opportunity for a kindness.

~

Love in its essence is spiritual fire.

~

We should every night call ourselves to an account: 

What infirmity have I mastered today? 

What passions opposed? 

What temptation resisted? 

What virtue acquired? 

Our vices will abate of themselves 

if they be brought every day 

to the shrift.

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

The Stoic Wisdom of Epictetus

 

Epictetus

People are not disturbed by things, 

but by the view they

 take of them.

~

It's not what happens to you, 

but how you react to it 

that matters.

~

When you are offended at any man's fault, 

turn to yourself and study your own failings. 

Then you will forget 

your anger.

~

There is only one way to happiness 

and that is to cease worrying about things 

which are beyond the power 

of our will.

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

Afoot and Light-Hearted...

 

Walt Whitman

Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose. Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune; Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Strong and content, I travel the open road . . . . . . From this hour, freedom! From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines, Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute, Listening to others, and considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me . . .   . . . I inhale great draughts of space; The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine. I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness. All seems beautiful to me; I can repeat over to men and women, You have done such good to me,  I would do the same to you. I will recruit for myself and you as I go; I will scatter myself among men and women as I go; I will toss the new gladness and roughness among them; Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me; Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and shall bless me.

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts

Free Online Workshop! Living the Intentional Life - Monday, August 12th

 

The Academy of European Arts and Culture 

Invites you to...

 La Cascade by Rene Magritte

Living the Intentional Life

Monday, August 12, 2024, 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Free!

Is there a deeper meaning to our journey through this world, or is it simply the price to be paid to get to our hoped-for reward in the next?

 Join us as we explore the beauty and import of the here and now.

Register today!

Living the Intentional Life

The Fountain - Newsletter of The Academy

 

You are invited to read and subscribe to

The Fountain - Newsletter of The Academy

The Fountain is the monthly newsletter of the Academy of European Arts and Culture. Created by members of the Academy as an introduction to the wisdom of the Irish mystic, Mervyn Brady, the Fountain also showcases the conscious men and women who guided his path. We invite you to enjoy inspiring art, poetry and prose related to the themes in our teacher's writings, which reflect the wisdom, philosophy and mysticism of all ages and cultures.

This month's theme is:  
The Soul Starts to Open Its Eyes 

We awaken in this life, our life. The soul opens its eyes, and what does it see? It sees what is right before us. It’s familiar yet different, experienced from a new vantage point. We hope the artwork and the words in this month’s Fountain help you to open the eyes of your soul to this new sense of presence, where we can attract higher aid.  

Click the link below!

The Fountain, August 2024

Eternity in an Hour...

 

                                                                                                                                Willaim Blake

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour...

 - William Blake

https://linktr.ee/academyofeuropeanarts