“Earth, in which lie the sea, the river, and other waters,
in which food and cornfields have come to be,
in which lives all that breathes and that moves,
may she confer on us the finest of her yield.

Earth, in which the waters, common to all,
moving on all sides, flow unfailingly, day and night,
may she pour us milk in many streams,
and endow us with lustre.

May those born of thee, O Earth,
be for our welfare, free from sickness and waste.
Wakeful through a long life, we shall become
bearers of tribute to thee.

Earth, my mother, set me securely with bliss
in full accord with heaven
O wise one,
uphold me in grace and splendour.”

Atharva Veda, composed in India in around 1100 BCE

World Humanitarian Day

“I believe that there is a greater power in the world than the evil power of military force, of nuclear bombs — there is the power of good, of morality, of humanitarianism.”

Linus Pauling (1901 – 1994), Unitarian Universalist, winner of Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Peace, died on this day

“God is not a watchmaker who then periodically tinkers with the creation he long ago established. Instead, God is one with all that exists. The great miracle is the energizing force of the universe itself. One mind is everywhere active, in each ray of the star, in each wavelet of the pool.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882), Unitarian minister, writer and philosopher, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Mae West, born on this day in 1893

“Though human nature has many detractors, and though we fail our own best intentions sometimes, the treasury of the soul reflects its divine origins time and again in our life’s track. True divinity of soul shines out in the most unexpected moments: when we are hard-pressed, when care and support must stretch just a little further than we think we can give, when the moment of danger comes unexpectedly, when a deeper and more farsighted action is required of us. The invisible mantle of the Divine is about our shoulders and can lend us help and strength in daily life. The divine ingredients within our making do not make us into gods, but they do sparkle through our human lives in ways that illumine the universe.”

From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews

“To understand the world, knowledge is not enough. You must see it, touch it, live in its presence and drink the vital heat of existence in the very heart of reality.”

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 – 1955), Jesuit priest, paleontologist and theologian

“I quietly gaze into the depths of a forest
and see nothing save beauty and peace.
Birdsong fills my ears.
A gentle breeze brushes against my cheek.
Seeing from inside the seeing,
I drink the dark riches of the woods.

Would it be that every day I could see
my own face so clearly in these still waters,
And meet the emptiness –
which is also my very own heart –
that is carried in the boughs of pines
and the gentle music of crickets.”

Cass Adams

“Every unique thing in nature is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole. Each particle is a microcosm, and faithfully renders the likeness of the world. In geometric harmony of the cosmos there are ways that resemble, there are universal patterns, from blood vessels, to winter trees or to a river delta, from nautilus shell to spiral galaxy, from neurons in the brain to the cosmic web. A whole universe of connections is in your mind – a universe within a universe – and one capable of reaching out to the other that gave rise to it. Billions of neurons touching billions of stars – surely spiritual.”

Alejandro Mos Riera

International Youth Day

“Please bring strange things.
Please come bringing new things.
Let very old things come into your hands.
Let what you do not know come into your eyes.
Let desert sand harden your feet.
Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.
Let the path of our fingertips be your maps
and the ways you go be the lines of your palms.
Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing
and your outbreath be the shining of ice.
May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.
May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.
May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.
May your soul be at home where there are no houses.
Walk carefully, well loved one,
walk mindfully, well loved one,
walk fearlessly, well loved one,
Return with us, return to us,
be always coming home.”

Initiation Song from the Finders Lodge by Ursula K. Le Guin

“Only the strongest people have the pluck to change their minds, and say so, if they see they have been wrong in their ideas.”

Children’s author Enid Blyton, born on this day in 1897