Stop trying to find a ladder that will reach the sky. Stay still, and the sky will touch you.-- Notes from the Song of Life
I was enchanted with this quotation from my morning's reading, and after meditation I went to my photo files, looking for a photograph I'd taken several years back of a ladder leaning against the hull of a boat that was being sanded and repainted.
But once I opened the file and began to play, this was what emerged, and the ladder disappeared completely -- and now that I look at the quote again, I see: isn't that exactly what was supposed to happen?
We try so hard to do it right, to read the right stuff and meditate regularly; we worry so much that it's not happening the way it should, that we're not yet enlightened beings.
But when we relax and release, follow our hearts, explore where our creativity leads us, isn't the sky waiting there to meet us? It is in emptying ourselves of our ambitions that we are filled; it is in being grounded in our own earthly inspirations that we come most closely in touch with the Divine spirit within us. Or, as St. Francis says:
It is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
But once I opened the file and began to play, this was what emerged, and the ladder disappeared completely -- and now that I look at the quote again, I see: isn't that exactly what was supposed to happen?
We try so hard to do it right, to read the right stuff and meditate regularly; we worry so much that it's not happening the way it should, that we're not yet enlightened beings.
But when we relax and release, follow our hearts, explore where our creativity leads us, isn't the sky waiting there to meet us? It is in emptying ourselves of our ambitions that we are filled; it is in being grounded in our own earthly inspirations that we come most closely in touch with the Divine spirit within us. Or, as St. Francis says:
It is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
5 comments:
I do like this quote from Notes!
Marvelous image, too. Shimmery with possibility and discovery and arrival.
Diane,
Beautiful image and thoughts. I have a quote from the "things to be happy about" website that reads: Accept your unenlightened state and let life unfold as it will. You will only gain.
Love you, friend! A
Diane ... what an incredible image! Just stunning!
Ah, the title of the post caught my attention as I am practicing relaxing and releasing in a physical sense (no, really! part of physical therapy). I'm not sure that my relax and release is about reaching the sky, but I suspect I may find it within once I get the hang of this practice.
Great photo image.
"It is in emptying ourselves of our ambitions that we are filled; it is in being grounded in our own earthly inspirations that we come most closely in touch with the Divine spirit within us."
This is beautiful. -- May I use it as a quote from you on my blog Diane for tomorrow? It is stunning and profound and inspiring.
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