Follow the Scent

Follow the scent that wafts
from your inmost depths.

Subtle, yes, most faint--
imperceptible to the point of sheer imagining.

Follow the scent that wafts
from the inmost chamber of your heart.

It is as sweetest incense
burning secretly in the Holy of Holies.

Follow the inner traces,
etched like pale patterns
on the glassy ice--so hard to construe!

Only that inmost door of perception--
the heart--
will yield in you such knowledge which you desire.
Such desiring is your own inner knowing--
your divine birthright.
Go there oft and lay down your
outer senses in sacrifice to the inner compass--
the guide upon the way--
thine own True Self.

Follow the scent
and your inner truth emerges.

If the scent betray you and lead you
into a dead-end, then what?
Is that delusion,
or have you misconstrued your faith
and hence fallen into error?

The inner refinement,
the inner senses take a certain amount of time to
develop and strengthen.

Trust in the inevitable nature of Love.

Keep surrendering,
deepening, drinking--
slaking the thirst through the living waters.


Hold fast to this Love,
as to a raft in a fast moving river flow;
it presents your best chance,
your highest goal in striving,
your inward salvation.


So what is the fear?

Do you fear this Truth is too marvelous to bear?
Too blinding to endure?

Consider such fear,
and in what is it based?
Or is it indeed baseless?

Therein, indeed, lies
the essence of delusion.

Root it out at all cost,
lest it trip up your faith in the dark.


Pax vobiscum

Call the Beloved

Call the Beloved
With your lips sealed
Call the Beloved
With your eyes open
Open to your holiness
Open to your loneliness

Call the Beloved
Drunk on the true vine
Call the Beloved
When you're out of time
out of your mind

Call the Beloved
If Love has feathered your nest
Call the Beloved
Prepare for your honored Guest
Behold the wedding feast
Behold the feast.

What Is This Desert?

The salt, the sand, the sun--the desert.
All is dry and dessicated.
Where is the fount of the waters of life?
Why suffer this needless thirst,
knowing the waters of life flow within,
without and within reach?
Ponder well.

There are yet rivers within your being yet untapped:
reservoirs of strength and clarity,
deep wells filled with love,
chasms coursing with vitality,
ardour pulsing through the veins.
So much life! So much vigor!
So much to share...nay, give away wholesale!
Endless renewal of inner force lies
in the font of the living waters.
One need not thirst at all, ever.
But there are yet veils of illusion which
keep you from slaking your spiritual thirst.
What are these illusions?
They must be revealed and uprooted;
tossed out like evil weeds:
Are you ever separate from others?
Are you still "special"?
Do you harbor pride in spiritual matters?
Secretly, yes?
Where are you prideful?
Were are you hard and unyielding?
Where are you unrelenting in judgement?
Where are you small and contracted?
Where do you allow thoughts to take you,
unaccompanied by the heart?
Where do you lack trust?
Wherefore are you still fearful for
your material security?

These are all matters for the desert life:
The hot, dry, burning, unyielding facts of
where there is resistance to the flow of life.

When the waters flow, they cause all to yield,
softening the realities of the hard, rocky road
below the shimmering fluid life.

When the waters run dry, we are given a chance
to examine the bottom of the river bed--the hard stones,
the dregs, the fallout and trash which has precipitated
at the bottom of our lives.

Without the flowing stream, which can distort our
vision of the bedrock of our lives, these cold, hard facts
come into sharper focus.

When the waters return and the glorious
life-affirming stream is restored, we at least know,
and have examined hard, that bedrock upon which it flows.
We come to recognize those boulder-like obstacles
within us which are still creating eddies, troubles and distortions
within us. We gaze upon the sharp rubble of our lives
and know that until the living waters grind it all down into
fine sand, we are as yet incomplete beings,
We are as yet unredeemed, and our essential nature
has yet to be fully made manifest. There is work to do!
See you to it!

But in the end: "the ocean refuses no river".

Advent Meditation

Oh, restless hearts,
so full of disquiet and unease,
unbind yourselves from the mad rush of these days
and seek out the eternal pivot point
upon which the cosmos entire spins
and is still all at once.

Allow the deep mystery to penetrate
through the layers of cold and harsh realities,
to penetrate the heart center
and begin the arduous task
of radiating the glory of Love outward,
back into the ethers of the cosmos,
back into the Source of All That Is.

Take time to rest in quietude,
to explore and ponder the fissures
and recesses of thine own soul.

Smooth the wrinkles of anxiety from your brow
and bow in deep humility towards the Coming One.

Some with furtive step,
some with strongest stride
explore the dark and hidden hallways
of their souls.

Hold a steady gaze upon the inner fire:
Does it smolder and smoke,
or does it blaze and consume brightly?

Breathe upon thine inner fire,
and stoke it with spirit!

Lay your cares carefully upon the inner fire-
balancing them like logs just so-
and sense the burning,
the inner conflagration of sin
upon heart's heat,
and let this dense matter
be consumed utterly in divine flame,
leaving only lightest ash to drift upward
in offering to the Most High.

Offer up yourselves, consumed in fire,
burning off heaviness and care,
leaving behind only a lingering fragrance
of incarnate purity.

Freedom: The Keynote

January 1, 2003


"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage." --Galatians 5:1

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh: and these
are contrary to one another: so that ye
cannot do the things that ye would.
But if ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law." --Galatians 5:16-18

Freedom, the keynote, the All in All.

Have no expectation, while much is expected of you.
This is a difficult stance, but necessary for the refinement
of the spirit within. The beings around you, beings of the Spirit,
hold you to a high standard: Humanity is the standard bearer,
after all. Uphold yourself in all circumstances. Uphold the law
of God within and the standard will hold true. Be not false in
any undertaking, not even in dream state. Indulge not the flesh,
for the flesh shall lead you astray and the path is so narrow.
Ponder this in your innermost heart.
Purge the hallowed spaces within yourself--
make space for Him and He shall fill that space entire!
He shall fill you with the pure breath of the Holy Spirit
and lead you, like a bouncing balloon, to the celebration,
the great celebration of life that awaits you in the inner Temple.
The inner gaze will lead you there. Cultivate the quiet heart;
listen to the peace which grows silently within your heart.
Take heart at the sound of your inner silence--it is respite,
it is the way of peace. He stands at your door and leads you in:
He leads you into safety and solace.
Shun outside noise and static by removing yourself from the toxic flow
of events in space and time; by turning on the switch to eternity within.
Cultivate the peace, and water the spirit with silence.
Silence must be struggled for and fought for: It is your ONLY right.

Be at peace, my fond one, and listen to My Heart.
In all times, in all circumstances, by all means,
and amidst all foes, you are with Me and in Me
so completely that I do encompass you.
Fear not losing sight of Me in the height of battle,
for I shall be at your side, fighting with you the good fight.
I AM the door which lies open to you always and everywhere.
May peace enter and take hold of your heart,
and occupy it as a fortress--a fortress of My love.
AMEN

Bear the Raiment of Light

Advent 2002

Bear the raiment of light
and enter not into sin again.

Hold forth your heart upon your sleeve
and pull not back for fear.

Follow down the echoey stair,
deep, deep into the womb of Love.

Second guess no more the words of He
which resound and pound
through the chambers of your heart--
the ear--
delicate ear of your spirit!

Hearken unto His voice amidst your troubles
and know that He stands amongst your thoughts at all times,
even unto sad, despairing thoughts and times your soul is in trial--
He is there.

If this were not so, you could not pull yourself out of the Abyss;
you could much less walk or get out of bed at all!

He is the Sustainer,
Keeper of the Flame,
Keeper of your flame,
and lights the passages
you must wend.

Fear not your own darkness, for such shadows are dwarfed
and extinguished in His light: This light He sheds in your heart
is that which soaks each tear that falls from your eye.
Your eye is near and dear to Him, as an aperture unto your soul.

Practice the inner gaze and behold the effect upon the heart
and its streams of emotions.

Quieten your gaze and so shall your heart quieten also,
and hence gain soul control over the seething boil and roil
of the emotional body.

Refine this apace; at each new level it shall be tested within.

No flood at the flood gates should penetrate the inner sanctum;
no roiling earthquake of seething upset destroy the inner peace and calm.
This must be so, and this must be practiced to the point of perfect reliability.

No amount of emotional overspill can be allowed to create a factor
of turmoil in the soul. Your temple must be made perfect sanctuary
from the impending and imposing evils of the world,
else there shall be no true respite, and you shall perish in the chaos without.

Heed this warning and commence your training anew!

Dis-ease and upset will pour forth and assail you, and what shall you do?
If you can curb the tide at your inner door and hold inner peace
in your court, then, and only then, can you be of service
to others struggling around you.
Place the oxygen mask on yourself, so to speak,
before administering help to children.

See to it that humor vanish not in the face of strain--
it is a most valuable tool in the lifeboat of the soul!

Be of good cheer and thankful be to God,
this day and always.
May His Mercy and Grace abide in you at all times.

Amen

The Seven "I AM"s from the Gospel of John

I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life

I AM the Door of the Sheep, the Gate

I AM the Bread of Life

I AM the True Vine

I AM the Good Shepherd

I AM the Light of the World

I AM the Resurrection and the Life

Pole Star

Learning to sail rudderless,
with only the wind, water
and the sail of the heart
as a steering device.

Though you be blown hither and yon,
you are always at home
within My Heart.

Steer a course and be steered~~
a paradox!

Landmarks are few, if any:
Rest in the pole star; rest in Me.