“Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower,
but is already there, in relaxation and letting go.

Don’t strain yourself, there is nothing to do.
Whatever arises in the mind has no importance at all,
because it has no reality whatsoever.
Don’t become attached to it.
Don’t pass judgement.

Let the game happen on its own, springing and falling back
without changing anything –
and all will vanish and reappear, without end.

Only our search for happiness prevents us from seeing it.
It is like a rainbow
which you run after without ever catching it.
Although it does not exist,
it has always been there and accompanies you every instant..

Waiting to grasp the ungraspable, you exhaust yourself in vain.
As soon as your relax this grasping, space is there
open, inviting, and comfortable..

All is yours already.
Don’t search any further..

Nothing to do,
nothing to force,
nothing to want,
and everything happens by itself.”

Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche (1918 – 1997)

“How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then, without realizing it you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful.”

Anne Frank, born on this day in 1929

“There are no boundaries in the real Planet Earth. No United States, no Soviet Union, no China, no Taiwan…Rivers flow unimpeded across the swaths of continents. The persistent tides – the pulse of the sea – do not discriminate; they push against all the varied shores on Earth…

The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.”

Jacques Cousteau, born on this day in 1910 (oceanographer, explorer and scientist, pioneer of marine conservation)

“Putting a little time aside for clean fun and good humor is very necessary to relieve the tensions of our time.”

Hattie McDaniel born on this day in 1893 (first African American actress to win an Oscar, for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind)

Feast of St Columba

“One day, when Columba was visiting a graveyard in Iona, he saw an old woman cutting nettles.
‘Why are you cutting nettles?’ asked Columba.
‘Dear father,’ she replied; ‘I have only one cow, and it has not yet borne a calf. So in the meantime I am living on soup made from nettles.’

As he walked on, Columba decided that he too should eat only nettle soup. ‘If this woman eats nettles in expectation of a calf,’ he thought, ‘then I too must surely eat nettle soup in expectation of God’s kingdom.’ So when he returned to the monastery, he ordered the monk who prepared the food to give him nettle soup in future.

The monk was anxious that such a meagre diet might kill their beloved abbot. So he made a special stick, hollow in the middle, for stirring the soup. And as he stirred Columba’s soup he secretly poured milk through the stick.

Far from becoming ill, Columba thrived on nettle soup, little knowing it was laced with milk. Soon he was urging the other monks to follow his example; and, seeing how healthy Columba looked, many were eager to try his strange diet. The poor monk in the kitchen now had to make a huge cauldron of nettle soup, pouring milk secretly through his stick.

After a few days the monastery ran out of milk, and the monk had no choice but to confess his trick to Columba. For a moment Columba’s face went red with anger, then he broke into uproarious laughter.

‘It is God’s joke against me,’ Columba said. ‘It was only pride that made me tell others of my diet – so I deserve to be tricked.’

And he ordered that from then onwards all the monks on Iona should eat proper, nutritious meals.”

From Celtic Fire: An Anthology of Celtic Christian Literature by Robert van der Weyer

“1. An honest ego in a healthy body

2. An eye to see nature
3. A heart to feel nature
4. Courage to follow nature
5. A sense of proportion (humor)
6. Appreciation of work as idea and idea as work
7. Fertility of imagination
8. Capacity for faith and rebellion
9. Disregard for commonplace (inorganic) elegance
10. Instinctive cooperation”

Frank Lloyd Wright, architect and Unitarian, born on this day in 1867

“First
I thank the Source
of all life
for this life’s meaning
then I can begin

first
I create the space
in which to grow
into new dimensions
then I can move there

first
I envision the garden
full of rainbows
and scents of nectar
then I can plant them

first
I touch my heartstring
and feel its resonance
with the harmonics of all beings
then I can share love

first
I hear the bird sing
filling the garden
with melodies beyond my ears
then I can appreciate life’s music

first
I taste the morning light
with which to create
food for my soul
then I can cook”

Harriet Kofalk

“Heavenly Love is like water.
Water blesses all things,
It does not hurt them.
It loves the lowly place that men dislike,
Therefore it comes very near to Tao.
The Master loves to dwell upon the earth.
In his heart he loves Infinity,
In his benevolence he loves giving,
In his words he loves sincerity,
In his government he loves peace,
In his business affairs he loves ability,
In his movements he loves punctuality.
The Master, indeed, does not fight,
Therefore his Inner Life increases.”

Tao Te Ching, chapter 8, translated by Isabella Mears

World Environment Day

“To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon, within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.”

Joy Harjo

Thought for the day, Sunday 4th June

“Divinity is the enfolding of the universe,
and the universe is the unfolding of divinity…
The human mind is the enfolding of is own dream world
and its own dream world is the unfolding of the human mind.
Divinity is the enfolding and unfolding of everything that is.
Divinity is in all things in such a way that all things are in divinity.
Mind itself supposing itself to encompass, survey, and comprehend all things
thus concludes that it is in everything and everything is in it.”

Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 1464), mathematician, astronomer, theologian and philosopher