“Now pay attention to this. God is nameless for no one can either speak of him or know him. Therefore a pagan master says that what we can know or say of the First Cause reflects ourselves more than it does the First Cause, for this transcends all speech and all understanding . . . He is being beyond being: he is a nothingness beyond being. Therefore St. Augustine says: βThe finest thing that we can say of God is to be silent concerning him from the wisdom of inner riches.β Be silent therefore, and do not chatter about God, for by chattering about him, you tell lies and commit a sin. If you wish to be perfect and without sin, then do not prattle about God. Also you should not wish to understand anything about God, for God is beyond all understanding. A master says: If I had a God that I could understand, I would not regard him as God. If you understand anything about him, then he is not in it, and by understanding something of him, you fall into ignorance, and by falling into ignorance, you become like an animal since the animal part in creatures is that which is unknowing. If you do not wish to become like an animal therefore, do not pretend that you understand anything of the ineffable God.”
Meister Eckhart
Tag: meditation
A Mountain in the Storm
Breathing in I see myself as a mountain
Solid in any wind, thunder or rain
No storms of the world can bother me
When I am rooted in God’s love
All worldly conflicts can not take me from his peace when I’m connected to him
God’s grace and strength gives my heart and soul true peace that no storm can take away as long as I stay close to him
Mercy for All
May I have mercy for others
May I show them grace
May I show them forgiveness
May I show them true love
For God has shown be infinite grace and love
May I share his love with all
Bringing light into the darkness of the world and thus glorifying the light
Thomas Keating; Centering Prayer
“If you want to be free, if you want to heal your relationship with God, with others, and yourself, enter your Inner Roomβ The Office, where the Divine Therapy takes place. Close the door so you donβt run away.
Quiet your interior dialogue, so that you can listen to what the Spirit is saying to you.
An enormous intelligence is guiding us through this process with a love that is unconditional and determined to bring about this healing, whatever the cost to Itself. Gregory the Great expressed it as resting in God.
Donβt judge Centering Prayer on the basis of how many thoughts come or how much peace you enjoy.
The deeper oneβs awareness of oneβs powerlessness and the more desperate, the more willing one is to reach out for help.
This help is offered in the next two steps. You turn yourself over to a Higher Power who you believe can heal you and work with you in the long journey of dismantling the emotional programs for happiness. They are the root causes of all our problems.
How should we handle these afflictive emotions? By facing them. By feeling them.
Feelings that are being repressed have to be allowed to pass through our awareness once again, in order to be left behind for good.
The radical healing is the acceptance of the situation. Because in some way, God is present there.
The real work of prayer is just to get rid of the very assumptions that was the foundation of all these other modes of prayer. It is a matter of shifting the location of the sense of identity.
The false self is deeply entrenched. You can change your name and address, religion, country, and clothes. But as long as you donβt ask it to change, the false self simply adjusts to the new environment.
For example, instead of drinking your friends under the table as a significant sign of self-worth and esteem, if you enter a monastery, as I did, fasting the other monks under the table could become your new path to glory.
We have to accept that the word βIβ does not have a fixed, and clear, and obvious referent.
This is where the transformation that we undergo becomes more and more radical with each breakthrough or illumination.
The contemplative journey, because it involves the purification of the unconscious, is not a magic carpet to bliss. It is an exercise in letting go of the false self, a humbling process, because it is the only self we know.
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Nothing is more helpful to reduce pride than the actual experience of Self-Knowledge. If we are discouraged by it, we have misunderstood its meaning.
Contemplative prayer is a deepening of faith that moves beyond thoughts and concepts. One just listens to God, open and receptive to the divine presence in oneβs inmost being as its source.
One listens not with a view to hearing something, but with a view to becoming aware of the obstacles to oneβs friendship with God.
God has not promised to take away our trials but to help us change our attitude towards them. That is what holiness really is.
In this life, happiness is rooted in our basic attitude toward Reality.
For human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human. For to become fully human is to become fully divine.
The Spirit calls us to transformation of our inmost being, and indeed of all of our faculties, into the Divine Way of being and acting.
Divine Love picks us up when we sincerely believe nobody else will. We then begin to experience freedom, peace, calm, equanimity, and liberation from cravings.
A total surrender of ourselves to the Spiritual Journey is required.
When the Presence of God emerges from our inmost being into our faculties, whether we walk down the street or drink a cup of soup, Divine Life is pouring into the world.
God will bring people and events into our lives, and whatever we may think about them, they are designed for the evolution of this Divine Life in us.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit grow in direct proportion to the depth and sincerity of our love.
To live in the Presence of God on a continuous basis can become a kind of fourth dimension to our three-dimensional world, forming an invisible but real background to everything that we do or that happens in our lives.
Silence is Godβs first language, everything else is a poor translation.
Whatever we say about God is more unlike God than saying nothing. If we do say something, it can only be a pointer toward the mystery that can never be articulated in words. All that words can do is point in the direction of the mystery.
Let Love Alone speak.”
Prayer in Secret
If you want to be free
If you desire union with God in perfect love
Always point the arrow inwards
For God is always within us
Patiently waiting for us to listen
As Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
We must enter our inner room where the divine therapy takes place
Focus on your breathe till your mind is calm and at ease so you can hear his spirit
Contemplate God’s love and words within your heart and you will be healed, restored, and guided
The Interior Life
The interior life is one of silence
Striving only for divine union with God’s love
It is not one that strives for earthly riches
The false beacon of wealth, status, or fame will all fade away and lead us to great suffering
Look only within your own heart and seek the inner riches of being one with Christ in perfect love
When you are one with Christ, true joy and peace will rush within your heart
Do not be bothered by the impurities in your brothers and sisters
Focus on your own journey to Christ and God’s light will cast into the darkness of the world
Do not gossip about God and only speak humbly
Learn to he silent and listen to God’s voice within you
Be still and seek the Kingdom of God within your own heart and soul
Cloud of Unknowing
“With an empty mind and open heart, let yourself be naked before grace.
Let your mind rest in this dark awareness of God in all of this naked existence.
It is not who you are or what you’ve been that God sees with merciful eyes, but what you want to be.
Contemplative prayer, when done right, is the respectful love and ripe fruit.
It’s the cloud of unknowing, the hidden love-longing offered by a pure spirit.
It takes you into silence, far from thoughts and words.”
These quotes are from “The Cloud of Unknowing” which is a book of anonymous European monks from the medieval times. Full video on YouTube.
Enjoy ππ»
Look Within
Many look for the Kingdom of God in Church
Many look for the Kingdom of God in the afterlife
Many look for the Kingdom of God in rituals
Those who look outside of themselves only dream
Those who look within their own heart and soul awaken to God’s love right here and now
A Kingdom where love reigns supreme over fear
The light transforming the darkness within and around us
A everlasting spring of love
A sanctuary of healing
Be still and know
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Be Still and Seek the Kingdom of Love Within
If you focus on the surface of life
Everything appears as suffering
But look deep within yourself and you will see the ultimate reality beneath the surface of life
You will see that at the center of your being and all creation is God’s unconditional love
Take refuge in this sanctuary of unconditional love within your own heart and soul
It’s water so pure
Its love is everlasting and healing
Be still and seek the Kingdom of love within you
Beginners Mind
When you have a beginners mind
You become as fresh as a flower
Your mind becomes like a still pond
An empty canvass
Open to the infinity possibilities of life
With a beginners mind
You can find joy in fresh mandarin
You can experience nirvana looking deeply at a bird
Find peace and serenity right here and now
When your mind becomes rough and demanding
You will lose your beginners mind
And life will become dreary and meaningless
Your mind will need more and more stimulation
Leaving you depressed, numb and anxious
In a beginners mind there is true love, compassion and insight
A beginners mind is fresh and alive
In a beginners mind there are many possibilities
For an expert mind, few
To be a beginner, we must practice deep humility
With no thought of attaining enlightenment or any self centered ideas