I hope that you are enjoying leaning into this season of Epiphanytide and finding ways to connect with what is good, true and beautiful in yourself, in others, and in the world around you. As mentioned last week, not only are we invited to hang out with these energies or substances, we are called to make these energies ourselves from within.
What does it look like to collude with the Divine in making these energies within? I don’t know exactly but what I do know is that what we put our attention on grows. So for starters we can bring some attention to the way God is already at work making these energies within us. How might this be happening within you? When we are on the lookout for this, we begin to see unexpected glimpses and sparks and can give them our attention. Our attention becomes a force that fans those sparks and they can grow and spread.
We may also ask ourselves, how can I bring goodness, truth, and/or beauty into this situation? What is needed that I may participate in the creation of? Rather than looking to get these energies for our own benefit, we can be more aware of offering them. This can and will take on many forms but will likely not include telling people what you are doing. See how much you can bring just through your presence and being. When you notice others, human and non human, exuding or extending these energies find a way to acknowledge that in order that you might fan those sparks as well.
And so we carry on.
In Goodness, Truth, and Beauty,
Heather
Here most of the Readings from this week's pauses:
“The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.” — Chanakya
"Try to see the good in others. When you're tempted to judge someone, make an effort to see their goodness. Your willingness to look for the best in people will subconsciously bring it forth. — Marianne Williamson
“Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If [they listen] to it and acts on it, [they are] giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to [their] own goodness and act on it.” — Pablo Casals
“Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.” — Anne Frank
“There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.” — Maya Angelou
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” — Antione de Saint-Exupery
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” — Buddha
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” - 1 John 3:18
“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The more often we see the things around us - even the beautiful and wonderful things - the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds - even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less.” — Joseph B. Wirthlin
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” — Camille Pissarro
‘Zero Circle’
Be helpless, dumbfounded,
Unable to say yes or no.
Then a stretcher will come from grace
To gather us up.
We are too dull-eyed to see that beauty
If we say we can, we’re lying.
If we say No, we don’t see it,
That No will behead us
And shut tight our window onto spirit.
So let us rather not be sure of anything,
Besides ourselves, and only that, so
Miraculous beings come running to help.
Crazed, lying in a zero circle, mute,
We shall be saying finally,
With tremendous eloquence, Lead us.
When we have totally surrendered to that beauty,
We shall be a mighty kindness.
— Rumi