“We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. My soul knows that I am part of the human race, my soul is an organic part of the great human soul.. There is nothing of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surface of the waters.”
David Herbert (D.H.) Lawrence, born on this day in 1885
This Day We Say Grateful: A Sending Blessing by Jan Richardson
“It is a strange thing to be so bound and so released all in the same moment, to feel the heart open wide and wider still even as it turns to take its leave. On this day, let us say this is simply the way love moves in its ceaseless spiralling, turning us toward one another, then sending us into what waits for us with arms open wide to us in welcome and in hope. On this day, in this place where you have poured yourself out, where you have been emptied and filled and emptied again, may you be aware more than ever of what your heart has opened to here, what it has tended and welcomed here, where it has broken in love and in grief, where it has given and received blessing in the unfathomable mystery that moves us, undoes us, and remakes us finally for joy. This day may you know this joy in full measure. This day may you know this blessing that gathers you in and sends you forth but will not forget you. O hear us as this day we say grace; this day we say grateful; this day we say blessing; this day we release you in God’s keeping and hold you in gladness and love.”
“How to unmask a blessing in disguise: Stare it in the face and say, “I know you are not just a lousy day or bad luck. I know you are a good friend—even if for the life of me I cannot determine how. I know there is only one Source of All Things, and nothing can convince me that evil descends from Above. Evil descends from the constraints of my perception. You are no more than a blessing in disguise.” This blessing, if truly a great one, will not surrender its cover easily. You will need a composure that demonstrates you meant every word you said. You will need to hold your ground like a mountain against the sea. You will need to surprise yourself with your own resolve. And then you can turn over a world. A world that once distorted every blessing that squeezed through its gates will now open those gates wide. And the blessings that have already entered will sigh a breath of relief as one by one they discard their scary costumes.”
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
Frederick Douglass
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development… For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right…. Literacy is the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”
“When fire breaks out in a ten-story building, the person living on the first floor cries out for help. The person living on the tenth floor says that it is not his problem. But it soon will become his problem too. He does not realize that. Amma always says that there is harmony in the universe. Everything in the universe is interconnected. The universe is a net held by each of us. When there is movement in the corner of a net held by four people, it will reflect everywhere. All actions we perform knowingly or unknowingly, alone or as a group is being reflected in the corners of the universe. It will not work if we wait for others to change. Even if they do not change, we should be willing to change. We should see what we can do.”
“I remember how my mother would hold me. I would look up at her sometimes and see her weep. I understand now what was happening. Love so strong a force it broke the cage, and she disappeared from everything for a blessed moment. All actions have evolved from the taste of flight; the hope of freedom moves our cells and limbs. Unable to live on the earth, Mira ventured out alone in the sky – I write of that journey of becoming as free as God. Don’t forget love; it will bring all the madness you need to unfurl yourself across the universe.”
Mirabai (also known as Meera), 16th century devotee of Krishna
“What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being. To feed the hungry. To help the afflicted. To lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful. To remove the wrongs of the injured. That person is most beloved of God who does most good to God’s creatures.”
Saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
“To flower out in the sunshine and air, a seed falls into the loam, where the dead gather like old old friends to compost their pain into beauty. I am a seed. To sing, I fall into silence. To radiate golden joy, I fall into darkness. To know wisdom, I leave the dry land of thinking and fall into the ocean of bewilderment. Are you poor in spirit? Do you desire true wealth? Be a seed. Vanish into your opposite. Give thanks for a blade of grass, the stillness of the swallowtail on a weed, the rise and fall of this breath.”
“The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is smeared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wear’s man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil Is bare now; nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs – Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 – 1889), Jesuit priest and poet
“”One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” William Shakespeare, As You Like It
As we walk through the countryside at this time of year, it is easy to feel our symbiotic connection with nature. The rich profusion of colours and the abundant seeding and fruiting of the land in preparation for autumn all beckon us into a wider family circle. We return home after such a walk, perhaps to the city, brimming with a sense of belonging, but this feeling fades sooner or later as we are immersed once more in the daily running of our lives.
We place reminders of nature’s beauty about our home. Driven by the recognition that our kinship with nature is slipping, we surround ourselves with “natural” or “organic” things. While such things may remind us of our wider relationship, they do not truly connect us, since kinship must pass beyond strictly visual reminders if it is to be authentic.
It is in the touch of nature that connection is most strongly made, for it is at the most physical levels that recognition of kinship is triggered. We engage with our kindred when we are in physical contact: whether we tend our garden, groom our dog, or receive the kiss of rain upon our skin. These moments of precious contact are opportunities for loving thankfulness, in recognition of the fact that we are wholly akin to a greater family. When we live our lives open to such moments, we enter a wider embrace that includes us all.”
From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews
Chorlton Unitarians 