“Our Father, we thank Thee for Trees!
We thank Thee for the trees of our childhood
in whose shade we played and read and dreamed;
for the trees of our schooldays,
the trees along the paths where friendship walked.
We thank Thee for special trees
which will always stand large in our memory
because for some reason of our own they became our trees.
We thank Thee for the great stretches of trees
which make the forests.
May we always stand humbly before Thy trees
and draw strength from them as they, in their turn,
draw sustenance from Thy bounties of earth and sun and air.”

Margueritte Harmon Bro

Autumn Equinox

“The most dangerous psychological mistake is the projection of the shadow on to others; this is the root of almost all conflicts. Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.”

Carl Jung

“Don’t look down on the heart,
even if it’s not behaving well.
Even in that shape, the heart
is more precious than the teachings
of the exalted saints.

The broken heart is where God looks.
How lucky is the soul that mends the heart!

For God, consoling the heart
that is broken into hundreds of pieces
is better than going on pilgrimage.

God’s treasures are buried in ruined hearts.

If you put on the belt of service
and serve hearts
like a slave or servant,
the roads to all the secrets
will open before your eyes.

If you want peace and glory,
forget about your earthly honors
and try to please the hearts.

If you become
a helper of hearts,
springs of wisdom
will flow from your heart.

The water of life will run from your mouth
like a torrent.
Your breath will become medicine
like the breath of Jesus.

Be silent.
Even if you have two hundred tongues
in each hair on your head,
you won’t be able to explain
the heart.”

A Helper of Hearts by Rumi, from The Forbidden Rumi, translated by Nevit O. Ergin and Will Johnson

International Day of Peace

“When I think of peace, I think of a world where human beings are no longer brutalized on account of such accidents of birth as sex, race, religion, or nationality. For me, peace is a way of structuring human relations where daily acts of kindness and caring are tangibly rewarded. It is a way of thinking, feeling, and acting where our essential interconnection with one another is truly honored.

I pray for a world where we live in partnership rather than domination; where “man’s conquest of nature” is recognized as suicidal and sacrilegious; where power is no longer equated with the blade, but with the holy chalice: the ancient symbol of the power to give, nurture, enhance life. And I not only pray, but actively work, for the day when it will be so.”

Riane Eisler

“Cleaning and cleansing through movement is the pattern of earth’s nomadic peoples. They do not remain long in one place for many reasons, but chief of these is that the land on which they have rested becomes “worn out”. The act of moving on, then, is for them an act of renewal and care, allowing the earth to rest and recover from their occupation.

The spring and autumn cleaning of the house that many people favour is but one side of an orderly life. The visible clutter in our homes reflects a corresponding clutter in our internal lives. The wise lesson of nomadic peoples is to leave little trace of our passage upon the earth, to leave no mark that mars the wider world. By cleaning up after ourselves, we help life the impress of our presence upon the earth.

With attention and intention, clean at least one room of your house this week. As you restore cleanliness and order, be aware of the corresponding spaciousness within yourself, so that your autumn cleaning becomes meditation in itself.”

Caitlin Matthews

“Spiritual practice is not just sitting and meditation. Practice is looking, thinking, touching, drinking, eating and talking. Every act, every breath, and every step can be practice and can help us to become more ourselves.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

“How can I get to know myself? Not by thinking, for thinking only reflects my conscious being, but by meditating. Meditation goes beyond the conscious mind into the unconscious. In meditation I can become aware of the ground of my being in matter, in life, in human consciousness. I can experience my solidarity with the universe, with the remotest star in outer space and with the minutest particle in the atom. I can experience my solidarity with every living thing, with the earth, with these flowers and coconut trees, with the birds and squirrels, with every human being. I can get beyond all these outer forms of things in time and space and discover the Ground from which they all spring.”

Bede Griffiths

“The earth is mother,
she is mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human…
The earth should not be injured.
The earth should not be destroyed…
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it.
Without it we can not survive…
With nature’s help,
humankind can set into creation
all that is necessary and life-sustaining.”

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179), abbess, composer, healer, mystic, preacher, and visionary, who died on this day

“I’m trying to get people to see that we are our brother’s keeper. Red, white, black, brown or yellow, rich or poor, we all have the blues.”

Riley B. King (better known as B. B. King), born on this day in 1925

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DEMOCRACY

“Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples.”

Rigoberta Menchú Tum, K’iche’ Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.