Author Archives: Laura Dobson

“Matter and Spirit: These were no longer two things, but two states or two aspects of one and the same cosmic Stuff.. Matter is the Matrix of Spirit. Spirit is the higher state of Matter.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 – 1955), Jesuit priest, paleontologist and theologian, quoted in Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox Image:Continue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 10th August”

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples “In the old times, when people’s lives were so directly tied to the land, it was easy to know the world as gift. When fall came, the skits would darken with flocks of geese, honking “Here we are.” It reminds the people of the Creation story, when theContinue reading “Thought for the day, Saturday 9th August”

“There’s a kind of vegetable in Vietnam called he (pronounced “hey”). It belongs to the onion family and looks like a scallion [spring onion]; it’s very good in soup. The more you cut the plants at the base, the more they grow. If you don’t cut them, they won’t grow very much, but if youContinue reading “Thought for the day, Friday 8th August”

“Let us have the presence to stand at the edge of the seaTo sense the ebb and flow of the tides.Let us have the senses to feel the breath of a mistmoving over a great saltmarsh,To watch the flight of shore birdsthat have swept up and down the continentsFor untold thousands of years,and see theContinue reading “Thought for the day, Thursday 7th August”

Feast of the Transfiguration “Believe me, I knowhow tempting it isto remain inside this blessing,to linger where everythingis dazzling and clear. We could build wallsaround this blessing,put a roof over it.We could bring ina table, chairs,have the most amazing meals.We could make a home.We could stay. But this blessingis built for leaving.This blessingis made forContinue reading “Thought for the day, Wednesday 6th August”

“For myself, solitude is rather like a folded-up forest that I carry with me everywhere and unfurl around myself when I have need… Solitude is not an absence of energy or action, as some believe, but is rather a boon of wild provisions transmitted to us from the soul. In ancient times, purposeful solitude wasContinue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 5th August”

I.“We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;How restlessly they speed and gleam and quiver,Streaking the darkness radiantly! yet soonNight closes round, and they are lost for ever:— II.Or like forgotten lyres whose dissonant stringsGive various response to each varying blast,To whose frail frame no second motion bringsOne mood or modulation like the last.Continue reading “Thought for the day, Monday 4th August”

“It is pointless to deny the diversity of the world. Each nation, religion and social group will have its own culture, viewpoint and focus. While at times this diversity may seem to create obstacles to peace and harmony, if we go deeper and embrace the noblest human values, we will see that the very beautyContinue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 3rd August”

“And did you get whatyou wanted from this life, even so?I did.And what did you want?To call myself beloved, to feel myselfbeloved on the earth.” Late Fragment by Raymond Carver (1938 – 1988), short story writer and poet, written when he was dying from lung cancer, and inscribed on his tombstone, died on this day

Lammas / Lughnasadh “Lammas is the seasonal peak of high summer, and as with all Cross Quarter festivals, it represents a change in the manifest energy. Summer feels as if it will last forever, but now we begin to see the first signs of change and transformation. In the fields the cereal crops have turnedContinue reading “Thought for the day, Friday 1st August”