Author Archives: Laura Dobson

“Although we may see 1,000 suns reflected in 1,000 pots of water, there is only one sun. When we see the consciousness within all of us as one and the same, we will be able to develop a mind that considers the needs of others before our own.” Mātā Amritanandamayī Devi

‘I’m lying on the ground looking up at the branches of an oak tree. Dappled light is shining through the canopy, the leaves whisper ancient incantations. This tree, in its living stage, rooted in sights and sounds that I’ll never know, has witnessed extinctions and wars, loves and losses. I wish we could translate theContinue reading “Thought for the day, Wednesday 28th June”

“Come when the nights are bright with starsOr when the moon is mellow;Come when the sun his golden barsDrops on the hay-field yellow.Come in the twilight soft and gray,Come in the night or come in the day,Come, O love, whene’er you may,And you are welcome, welcome.You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,You are soft asContinue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 27th June”

First day of Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) “O Marvel,a garden among the flames!My heart can take onany form:a meadow for gazelles,a cloister for monks,For the idols, sacred ground,Ka’ba for the circling pilgrim,the tables of the Torah,the scrolls of the Qur’ān.I profess the religion of love;wherever its caravan turns along the way,that is the belief,the faithContinue reading “Thought for the day, Monday 26th June”

“Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.” From Animal Farm by George Orwell, born on this day in 1903

Midsummer Day “My Beloved is in the mountains,And lonely wooded valleys,Strange islands,And resounding rivers,The whistling of love-stirring breezes,The tranquil nightAt the time of the rising dawn,Silent music,Sounding solitude,The supper that refreshes,And deepens love.” John of the Cross, born on this day in 1542

“Because we live in the browning seasonthe heavy air blocking our breath,and in this time when livingis only survival, we doubt the voicesthat come shadowed on the air,that weave within our brainscertain thoughts, a motion that is soft,imperceptible, a twilight rain,soft feather’s fall, a small bodydropping into its nest, rustling, murmuring,settling in for the night.Continue reading “Thought for the day, Friday 23rd June”

“Strange to say, the Sermon on the Mount gives pretty precise instructions on how to construct an outlook that could lead to an Economics of Survival. How blessed are those who know that they are poor: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.How blessed are the sorrowful; They shall find consolation.How blessed are those of aContinue reading “Thought for the day, Thursday 22nd June”

Summer Solstice “Have you ever seenanythingin your lifemore wonderfulthan the way the sun,every evening,relaxed and easy,floats toward the horizonand into the clouds or the hills,or the rumpled sea,and is gone –and how it slides againout of blackness,every morning,on the other side of the world,like a red flowerstreaming upward on its heavenly oils,say, on a morningContinue reading “Thought for the day, Wednesday 21st June”

World Refugee Day “no one leaves home unlesshome is the mouth of a shark.you only run for the borderwhen you see the whole cityrunning as well.your neighbours running fasterthan you, the boy you went to school withwho kissed you dizzy behindthe old tin factory isholding a gun bigger than his body,you only leave homewhen homeContinue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 20th June”