THOMAS MOORE
The soul generally feeds on two things, time and eternity. It feeds on, on everyday life so that the things we do everyday, the simplest choices and the simplest things we go on about doing in our ordinary day to day life is very important for the soul. Sometimes the mind seems to disregard those small things but the soul doesn't. The other thing is, the soul needs eternity all the time. Not the idea of eternity but it needs an experience of eternity everyday. The experience that is outside of time. And what does that mean?
Well, if you are stopped, if time is stopped some time, especially the activity of your life is stopped or arrested by a beautiful vista of some kind, or a sunset, a mountain, or lake, an ocean, whatever, or just a flower that you just see, usually it's nature, or you might be stopped by a painting or by a sculpture or beautiful building or a dress someone is wearing, or a tie, or a face. This simple contemplation of a soul is a way the soul gets the eternity that it needs ... and it needs it everyday. So if we're going to care for the soul, one of the things we have to do is, is find ways to give it it's momentary contemplation.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Ultimately we decide which world we value. If what you're interested in is making it in the world then you can fight and struggle to make all kinds of things happen. You can even learn the rules of the game by which you can probably manifest all the things you want. What you will ultimately find however, is that those prizes in the world aren't what bring us joy. They just don't.
Sometimes I say to people, "Go on, fight that fight. Do all that", because then you'll be ready to start, then you'll say "Hey, I got all those things that were supposed to make me happy, and they don't and then you're ready (I think) to seek for the real pearl.” The real prize, which isn't an external experience. It's an internal one. And then you know that fighting keeps you from the prize because the prize is an experience of profound peace.
So if you are in a struggle mode or a fight mode by definition you are obstructing your own experience of the prize, and once again the whole irony of all this is once you stop struggling and fighting and trying to bring things into your life, they'll actually flow to you a lot easier, because the abundance of the world is magnetized to a serene presence.
DAVID WHYTE
There's also another place as a mature adult where you have to treat life on its own terms. And you must see it as a fiery kind of energy which will nourish you and take care of you but will also kill you as soon as it looks at you. And this is a real energy. And if you try and ignore this you will only have idealism and utopianism.
THOMAS MOORE
So yes, I think that if we were to pay attention to what's happening in our immediate vicinity, what’s happening right around us - those things that are of concern to soul, family, and friendship, neighborhood and work, home, place, all of these things - if we look around and see that it needs attention, then the thing to do is to realize that soul requires everyday attention. It's not a matter of getting it fixed then going on, it's a matter of realizing that maybe my lifestyle has to change somewhat, so I can have more moments of quiet, or more moments of gardening, if that is what soul is looking for, for whatever mysterious reason. Or more time with the family, or what else.
All the many possibilities that are there. I think we have to realize care of the soul is ongoing, it’s forever, it's not a matter of fixing a problem now and then, and forgetting about it. It's a way of life.
Now imagine that life coming into your daily experience. Just imagine there is a sort of a gateway, or a hole or an opening where some of the soul life can come through and enter your life.
It's immense, the possibilities are immense and incredible in their implications and the potential creativity is there. All we have to do is make the opening, open up and let it come out. This whole universe, things we didn't even know we were capable of. I mean this of anybody, not just the extraordinary individuals who manifest themselves so clearly, but anybody. We're all capable of all that incredible amount of potential.
|
