Author Archives: Laura Dobson

“Our culture often frowns on crying, seeing it as weakness or a loss of control. But tears, like all water, cleanse and purify. When our faces are wet with tears we have been baptized in a way – a natural baptism, sometimes performed for us without our even asking. And our tears also contain theContinue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 8th August”

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.I awoke and saw that life was service.I acted and behold, service was joy.” Rabindranath Tagore, died on this day in 1941

“As we solemnly mark today’s anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, it is heartening to note that the most enduring symbol of healing is a symbol from nature. Centuries ago, Japanese civilization began venerating the crane, and the image of thousands of cranes became common in artwork. The crane was known for long life, and origamiContinue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 6th August”

“Man cannot long separate himself from nature without withering as a cut rose in a vase. One of the deceptive aspects of mind in man is to give him the illusion of being distinct from and over against but not a part of nature. It is but a single leap thus to regard nature asContinue reading “Thought for the day, Saturday 5th August”

“Where there is justice, there is love. And sometimes, where there is love, there is justice.” From the Zohar (masterpiece of Kabbalah), first printed on this day in 1558

“The cave and rock paintings of the ancient world depict bison, mammoth, horse, and deer, all of which have a powerful presence not found in domesticated animals. These wild creatures who prefigure a primal world of nature are figurative of more than meat and hide: they hold and mediate spiritual powers greater than the presentContinue reading “Thought for the day, Thursday 3rd August”

“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word “love” here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace – not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in theContinue reading “Thought for the day, Wednesday 2nd August”

A Happy Lammas / Lughnasadh to you! “This is the beginning of the harvest time when the sun and the rains swell the seeds and ripen the fruits. Misty mornings and colder nights remind us that we have passed the longest day, and the cycle of the year is turning, as we dance on theContinue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 1st August”

“The shapes and colours of flowers and fruit, the curling of a wave or a tendril, the song of birds, the graceful movements of living creatures, the regularity of a crystal or a snowflake – all these and many more things are part of the beauty of the world. It is this which enables usContinue reading “Thought for the day, Monday 31st July”

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FRIENDSHIP “Oh, the comfort—the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person—having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with theContinue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 30th July”