Leave It All...

 

"Leave it all to God

and leave your interest in His hands.

He knows what is fitting for us..."

~St. Teresa of Avila

academyofeuropeanarts.com

It Really Got Me Thinking...

 

It really got me thinking 

about the need to be in the right state, 

this concept to "work" for lack of better terms. 

I look at my worldly job, 

managing people, 

and one of the hardest things about it 

is seeing both sides of the story. 

Maybe understanding someone's hardship, 

yet still needing to say 'No'. 

It's one of the biggest difficulties for me. 

My machine just wants to go back and forth. 

But to get to a higher place 

and be able to really see and feel the "correct" answer. 

It thinks if "no" is given to either side, 

it's being uncompassionate, 

but on the contrary, 

if I’m in a higher state while making a difficult decision, 

the compassion is still there, 

probably more so even.

~C

academyofeuropeanarts.com

This Painting...

Rene Magritte

This painting creates a shock. 

Having the opposites 

in the painting of night and day, 

both at the same time. 

It's an interesting concept 

and is so "foreign" to my machine 

it almost struggles to understand, 

which just adds to the intrigue. 

I think it also represents how my machine lives life. 

It's either hot or cold, 

likes or dislikes, on or off. 

It's these opposites that can't exist together.

But Maurice Nicoll, 

in one of his Commentaries, 

reminds us the possibility of yes AND no -

that area in-between, 

where just like the painting, 

yes and no CAN exist together. 

It's a place to strive to, 

a place to work for. 

~C

academyofeuropeanarts.com

I Am Listening...

 

 I am listening to the first song 

In Saint Matthews Passion of Bach. 

Right now. 

So much emotion. 

From agony to ecstasy. 

I have asked myself 

why his music is so divine? 

Through his music of deep emotion 

is the love of God, 

interlaced between each note. 

~S

academyofeuropeanarts.com

In Reality...

"In reality,

 there is, perhaps, 

no one of our natural passions 

so hard to subdue as pride. 

Disguise it, struggle with it, 

beat it down, stifle it, 

mortify it as much as one pleases, 

it is still alive, 

and will every now and then 

peep out and show itself; 

you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; 

for, even if I could conceive 

that I had completely overcome it, 

I should probably be proud of my humility.”

~Ben Franklin

academyofeuropeanarts.com

In My Experience ...

Henri Matisse

 

In my experience 

the Emotional Center 

Is the gateway to the Soul, 

the purer it gets 

the stronger the connection with the Soul. 

My verifications: 

in order to purify the Emotional Center 

(or the Heart Center), 

one must be willing to surrender 

to immense suffering and feel the pain body. 

With no resistance. 

Then showers of bliss will come. 

In this process the heart opens up to Joy 

in a different way, 

to the most subtle details that life brings to us. 

Like appreciating a ray of sunlight 

coming through the leaves of a tree. 

Or listening to someone with no judgment, 

but with curiosity and Presence. 

But most of all, 

the feeling of tenderness with oneself, 

and others and all the creation.

~C

academyofeuropeanarts.com

That Child We Were ...

 

That child we were 

can grow again 

and become mature and courageous 

in its understandings. 

I can clean my memories, 

wash them 

with clear understanding of presence 

to be open again. 

There is a very pure freedom 

in allowing the process of emotional understandings. 

Recognizing such courage in another 

is a big motivation 

and inspiration to awaken.

~C

academyofeuropeanarts.com

Do Not Be Afraid...

 

Do  not be afraid;

our fate cannot be taken from us;

it is a gift.

~Dante Alighieri

academyofeuropeanarts.com