As it is

RIC_1854-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We cannot change the world as it is,

but by opening ourselves to the world as it is,

we may find that gentleness, decency and bravery are available – 

not only to us but to all human beings.

Chögyam Trungpa, Shambhala: The Sacred path of the Warrior

Cry of my heart

RIC_1837-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     My Lord,
     You have heard the cry of my heart
     because it was
     You Who cried out within my heart.

        Thomas Merton, Dialogue with Silence

Hope

RIC_1847-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
     but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of
     how it turns out. 

        Václav Havel

Discipline of blessings

RIC_1971-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

But the discipline of blessings is to taste
each moment, the bitter, the sour, the sweet
and the salty, and be glad for what does not
hurt. The art is in compressing attention
to each little and big blossom of the tree
of life, to let the tongue sing each fruit,
its savor, its aroma and its use.

Marge Piercy, The art of blessing the day

A Parable

RIC_1939-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     A parable, that is, a metaphorical story, always points

     externally beyond itself, points to some different and

     much wider referent. Whatever its actual content is, a

     parable is never about that content. Whatever is internal

     subject, a parable always points you toward and wants

     you to do to some external referent.

       John Dominic Crossan,

       The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus

Imagination

RIC_2009-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The reality of all the arts is that of the imagination. ... The security of the imagination lies in calling, all our lives, for more liberty, more rebellion, more belief.

Muriel Rukeyser, "The Resistances," The Life of Poetry

.

Poetry

RIC_1780-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The universe of poetry is the universe of emotional truth.

Our material is the way we feel and the way we remember.

Muriel Rukeyser,

"The Universe of Poetry," The Life of Poetry

.

Doorways

RIC_1763-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Doorways are sacred to women for we are the doorways of life and we must choose what comes in and what goes out.

Marge Piercy

Celebrating International Women's Day - http://www.internationalwomensday.com/.

Miracle

RIC_1968-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     To live in the beauty of the ordinary, to live in the 

     holiness of simplicity, that is the miracle, the treasure to

     be found within the mundane. 

       Janelle Shantz Hertzler, The Mundane and the Miracle in Seasons of Solace

Seeing

RIC_2026-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Seeing, in the finest and broadest sense, means using your senses, your intellect, and your emotions. It means encountering your subject matter with your whole being.

Freeman Patterson, Photography and the Art of Seeing