“I too have known loneliness
I too have known what it is to feel
misunderstood
rejected and suddenly
not at all beautiful.
Oh, Mother Earth,
your comfort is great, your arms never withhold.
It has saved my life to know this.
Your rivers flowing, your roses opening in the morning.
Oh motions of tenderness!”

Mary Oliver

“There is no God in the sky. God is in the heart that loves the sky’s blueness.”

A. Powell Davies, Unitarian minister (1902 – 1957)

A story told by Faraduddin Attar, 12th Century, Persia, about the desert saint Rabia al-Adawiyya, 8th Century Iraq,

“Once when Rabia al-Adawiyya was travelling on a pilgrimage to Mecca, she found herself alone in the desert for several days.
She heard a voice saying, “Hey, holy woman, do you love the presence of the divine glory?”
“I do.”
“And so do you hate Satan?”
“Because I love the ultimate Source of compassion,” she replied, “I am unable to hate Satan. Once I saw the Prophet Muhammad in a dream. He asked me, ‘Rabia, do you love me?’ I replied, ‘O Prophet, who doesn’t love you? But love of Allah has filled my heart, so there is no place for loving or hating anyone else.'”

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, born on this day in 1926

“In the woods a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at whatever period of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years.

In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity, which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, died on this day in 1882

“Honour and revere the gods, treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood – and nothing else is under your control.”

Marcus Aurelius, born on this day in 121

“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”

Ella Fitzgerald, born on this day in 1917

From The Earth Path by Starhawk,

“May all the healers of the earth find their own healing. May they be fueled by passionate love for the earth.
May they know their fear but not be stopped by fear. May they feel their anger and yet not be ruled by rage. May they honor their grief but not be paralyzed by sorrow.
May they transform fear, rage, and grief into compassion and the inspiration to act in service of what they love.
May they find the help, the resources, the courage, the luck, the strength, the love, the health, the joy that they need to do the work.
May they be in the right place, at the right time, in the right way.
May they bring alive a great awakening, open a listening ear to hear the earth’s voice, transform imbalance to balance, hate and greed to love.
Blessed be the healers of the earth.”

“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

William Shakespeare, born on this day in 1564, died on this day in 1616

Once, the Buddha was sitting in meditation, and someone came to him and asked: “Lord Buddha, you teach compassion, forgiveness, love and forbearance – from where did you learn all these wonderful qualities? Who is your teacher?”

Pointing towards the soil, the Buddha said: “I learned my forgiveness, compassion, friendship, kindness and all the wonderful qualities of love, beauty, unity and generosity from the Earth.”