Tag Archives: Uplifting Words

Radiance

There is radiance here

in these unfolding years.

Simplicity deepens.

Alone-ness widens perspective.

Solitude forms a presence.

In the quietness the trees share their secrets

and the ravens tell their tales.

The mountains form the foundation of everything,

while the big sky holds them in a warm embrace.

The stilled mind cascades into wonder.

That is where the radiance lies, shimmering in that wonder.

I stay there now as often as I can.

Raven with Attitude

 

 

Mountain Range View, Glacier

The Poor, The Poets and Monks

“I stand before you tonight to represent the people who do not count: The poor, the poets, and monks. As long as there are people who are trying to realize the divine in themselves, there shall be hope in the world.”

—Thomas Merton

Prayer Flags2

Thomas Merton distills the experience of being human in this life.  He was a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.

As a writer, poet, activist and continual student of comparative religion, he wrote timeless words that continue to resonate and teach.  The quote above is from the closing he gave to an interfaith conference in Calcutta in 1968.  Thomas Merton transitioned from this life a few days after he spoke these words.

Young Monk

 

October

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are October’s”

-L. M. Montgomery

Aspen in Full Color, Blue Sky

“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”

~Jim Bishop

Fall, Maple Leaves, Yard, Light, Red

“The time of the falling leaves has come again. Once more in our morning walk we tread upon carpets of gold and crimson, of brown and bronze, woven by the winds or the rains out of these delicate textures while we slept.
How beautifully the leaves grow old! How full of light and color are their last days! There are exceptions, of course. The leaves of most of the fruit-trees fade and wither and fall ingloriously. They bequeath their heritage of color to their fruit. Upon it they lavish the hues which other trees lavish upon their leaves….
But in October what a feast to the eye our woods and groves present! The whole body of the air seems enriched by their calm, slow radiance. They are giving back the light they have been absorbing from the sun all summer.”


~John Burroughs, “The Falling Leaves,” Under the Maples

Fall, Colors, Green, Gold, Trees, Grasses

 

A Biography

“Animals are not just living things; they are beings with lives. Next time you are outside, notice the first bird you see. RavenYou are beholding a unique individual with personality traits, an emotional profile and a library of knowledge built on experience. What you are witnessing is not just biology… but a biography.”

(Jonathan Balcombe)
Charles Littleleaf Native Flutes

Deer Smacking Her Lips