Al-Nour

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things.

Qur'an, Al-Nour, Surah 24:35

An Old Irish Blessing

Break the Mirror

In the morning
After taking cold shower
_____What a mistake______
I look at the mirror.

There, a funny guy,
Grey hair, white beard, wrinkled skin,
___What a pity___
Poor, dirty, old man!
He is not me, absolutely not.

Land and life
Fishing in the ocean
Sleeping in the desert with stars
Building a shelter in mountains
Farming the ancient way
Singing with coyotes
Singing against nuclear war-
I’ll never be tired of life,
Now I’m seventeen years old,
Very charming young man.

I sit down quietly in lotus position,,
Meditating, meditating for nothing.

Suddenly a voice comes to me:

“To stay young,
To save the world,
Break the mirror.”

Nanao Sakaki
found on www.healingstory.org

Buddha in the Glory

By gracious powers

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
and confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
and never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation
for which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare.

And when this cup You give is filled to brimming
with bitter suffering, hard to understand,
we take it thankfully and without trembling,
out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world
You give us the joy we had, the brightness of Your Sun,
we shall remember all the days we lived through,
and our whole life shall then be Yours alone.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer translation: F. Pratt Green

Capable Of Every Form

My heart has become capable of every form;
it is a pasture for gazelles and
a convent for Christian monks, and
a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Ka’ba, and
the tablets of the Torah and
the book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love:
whatever way Love’s camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.

Ibn al-Arabi

Chandeliers Glitter

A worldly banquet: chandeliers glitter
In the large hall —
And brilliant society, ladies and gentlemen,
Sit down for the meal.
They talk of everything and they talk of nothing —
The wine is red,
And so are the flowers. But no one, no one
Thinks of death.

Frithjof Schuon

Children - Kinder

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann

I died

I died from minerality and became vegetable;
And from vegetativeness I died and became animal.
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance
through death?

Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;
After that, soaring higher than angels -
What you cannot imagine,
I shall be that.

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

I don’t know how to love him

I don’t know how to love him,
What to do, how to move him.
I’ve been changed, yes, really changed.
In these past few days when I’ve seen myself
I seem like someone else.

I don’t know how to take this
I don’t see why he moves me.
He’s a man, he’s just a man.
And I’ve had so many men before
In very many ways:
He’s just one more

Should I bring him down? Should I scream and shout?
Should I speak of love - let my feelings out?
I never thought I’d come to this - what’s it all about?

Don’t you think it’s rather funny
I should be in this position?
I’m the one who’s always been
So calm, so cool, no lover’s fool
Running every show
He scares me so.

I never thought I’d come to this - what’s it all about
Yet, if he said he loved me
I’d be lost, I’d be frightened.
I couldn’t cope, just couldn’t cope.
I’d turn my head, I’d back away,
I wouldn’t want to know -

He scares me so.

I want him so.

I love him so.

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics by Tim Rice
from  Jesus Christ superstar

In the beginning was the Deed!

‘Tis written: “In the beginning was the Word!”
Here now I’m balked! Who’ll put me in accord?
It is impossible, the Word so high to prize,
I must translate it otherwise
If I am rightly by the Spirit taught.
‘Tis written: In the beginning was the Thought!
Consider well that line, the first you see,
That your pen may not write too hastily!
Is it then Thought that works, creative, hour by hour?
Thus should it stand: In the beginning was the Power!
Yet even while I write this word, I falter,
For something warns me, this too I shall alter.
The Spirit’s helping me! I see now what I need
And write assured: In the beginning was the Deed! 

Goethe

In This Heart

In this heart lies for you
A lark born only for you
Who says only to you
My love, my love, my love

I’m waiting for you
For only to adore you
My heart is for you
My love, my love, my love

This is my grief for you
For only the loss of you
The hurting of you
My love, my love, my love

There are rays on the weather
Soon these tears will have cried
All loneliness have died
My love, my love, my love

I will have you with me
In my arms only
For you are only
My love, my love, my love

Sinead O’connor

In Tyrannis

invitation

Nazim Hikmet

Mache dich mein Herze rein

Make thyself, my heart, now pure, I myself would Jesus bury. For he shall henceforth in me More and more Find in sweet repose his dwelling. World, depart, let Jesus in! St. Matthew’s Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach

Mache dich, mein Herze, rein,  Ich will Jesum selbst begraben.  Denn er soll nun mehr in mir  Für und für  Seine süße Ruhe haben.  Welt, geh aus, laß Jesum ein!

Merry Christmas from a Candle

You have lighted me and now you look into my light.
I hope, it brings you joy.
Actually, I myself am enjoying my burning.
If I didn’t burn,
I’d be in a carton along with others,
who also were not burning.
But in a carton we do not make sense.

It’s just the same with you HUmans:
Either you stay with yourselves and you’re safe,
then you will be just like the candles in a carton.
Or you give light and warmth, then you’ll make sense!
People will be happy you’re around.
You won’t be here for nothing.

But you have to give something from yourSelf.
First of all from your liveliness:
from your joy, your heartiness, your fidelity,
from your laughter, your sadness, your fears,
from your yearnings,
from all, that is you and within.

Do not fear to grow shorter.
That’s only on the outside -
on the inside you grow brighter all the time…

Anonymous

My True Destiny

Nathan, the Wise

In days of yore, there dwelt in east a man
Who from a valued hand received a ring
Of endless worth: the stone of it an opal,
That shot an ever-changing tint: moreover,
It had the hidden virtue him to render
Of God and man beloved, who in this view,
And this persuasion, wore it. Was it strange
The eastern man ne’er drew it off his finger,
And studiously provided to secure it
For ever to his house. Thus–He bequeathed it;
First, to the MOST BELOVED of his sons,
Ordained that he again should leave the ring
To the MOST DEAR among his children–and
That without heeding birth, the FAVOURITE son,
In virtue of the ring alone, should always
Remain the lord o’ th’ house–You hear me, Sultan?

SALADIN.

I understand thee–on.

NATHAN.

From son to son,
At length this ring descended to a father,
Who had three sons, alike obedient to him;
Whom therefore he could not but love alike.
At times seemed this, now that, at times the third,
(Accordingly as each apart received
The overflowings of his heart) most worthy
To heir the ring, which with good-natured weakness
He privately to each in turn had promised.
This went on for a while. But death approached,
And the good father grew embarrassed. So
To disappoint two sons, who trust his promise,
He could not bear. What’s to be done. He sends
In secret to a jeweller, of whom,
Upon the model of the real ring,
He might bespeak two others, and commanded
To spare nor cost nor pains to make them like,
Quite like the true one. This the artist managed.
The rings were brought, and e’en the father’s eye
Could not distinguish which had been the model.
Quite overjoyed he summons all his sons,
Takes leave of each apart, on each bestows
His blessing and his ring, and dies–Thou hearest me?

SALADIN.

I hear, I hear, come finish with thy tale;
Is it soon ended?

NATHAN.

It is ended, Sultan,
For all that follows may be guessed of course.
Scarce is the father dead, each with his ring
Appears, and claims to be the lord o’ th’ house.
Comes question, strife, complaint–all to no end;
For the true ring could no more be distinguished
Than now can–the true faith.

Nathan, der Weise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Please call me by my true name

by Thich Nhat Hanh

Do not say that I will depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch
to be a tiny bird, with wings still so fragile
learning to sing in my new nest
to be a caterpillar in the heart of flower
to be a jewel hiding itself in stone

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope,
the rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time to eat the
mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of the pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who,
approaching in silence, feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the 12 year old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to my people,
dying slowly in a forced labour camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.
My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills up the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Prayers of Peace

“Sufis are thieves! They steel the best of all religions.”

Well, this may or may not be true, but I just stole some wonderful Prayers from Truth & Beauty where you will also find a hearttouching post “Pilgrimage to Ground Zero“. Thank you very much! And of course, without my Good Spirit Brother Irving, I wouldn’t have found the post in the first place…

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury. Pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love,
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Hindu Prayer for Peace

Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the REAL. Lead us from darkness to light.
Lead us from death to immortality.
May there be peace on Earth.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may Thy peace itself, bestow peace on all,
And may that peace, come to me also.

Buddhist Prayer for Peace

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound, be free.
May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another.

Jewish Prayer for Peace

Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
To the Temple of the God of Jacob,
That he may teach us his ways
So that we may walk in his paths; since the Law will go out from Zion,
And the oracle of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples;
These will hammer their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles,
Nation will not lift sword against nation
There will be no more training for war.
O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

Muslim Prayer for Peace

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful,
Praise be to the Lord of the universe who has created us and made us tribes and nations,
That we might know each other.
If the enemy inclines towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace,
and trust in God, for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things.
And the servants of God, most Gracious are those who walk on the Earth in humility,
And when we address them, we say PEACE.

Baha’i Prayer for Peace

Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgment and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes for the blind and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart,
And a fruit upon the tree of humanity.

Native American Prayer for Peace

O Great Spirit of our ancestors, I raise my pipe to you,
To your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the Wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other
So that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all good things that you provide for us on Earth.

Words of Mother Theresa of Calcutta

“There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, A Muslim become a better Muslim, a Buddhist become a better Buddhist, and a Christian become a better Christian.”

Words by Mahatma Gandhi

“Like the bee gathering honey from different flowers, the wise person accepts the
Essence of different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions.”

Rabi’ah al Adawiyya

My Greatest Need is You

Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours
Are the hours I spend with You –
O Allah, I can’t live in this world
Without remembering You–
How can I endure the next world
Without seeing Your face?
I am a stranger in Your country
And lonely among Your worshippers:
This is the substance of my complaint.

Rabi’ah al Adawiyya

found
on

Islamic Foundation of North America

Rebbe Nachman's Prayer for Peace

Lord of Peace, Divine Ruler, to whom peace belongs!
Master of Peace, Creator of all things!

May it be thy will to put an end to war and bloodshed on earth, and to spread a great and wonderful peace over the whole world, so that nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Help us and save us all, and let us cling tightly to the virtue of peace. Let there be a truly great peace between every person and their fellow, and between husband and wife, and let there be no discord between people even in their hearts.

Let us never shame any person on earth, great or small. May it be granted unto us to fulfill Thy Commandment to "Love thy neighbor as thyself," with all our hearts and souls and bodies and possessions.

And let it come to pass in our time as it is written, "And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. I will drive the wild beasts from the land, and neither shall the sword go through your land.

God who is peace, bless us with peace !!!

(Attributed to Rabbi Nachman ben Feiga of Breslov, 1773-1810)

found here

Salat - Prayer

Most gracious Lord, Master, Messiah and
Saviour of humanity,
we greet Thee in all humility.

Thou art the First cause and the last effect,
the Divine Light and the Spirit of Guidance,
Alpha and Omega.

Thy Light is in all forms, Thy love in all beings,
in a loving mother, in a kind father,
in an innocent child, in a helpful friend,
and in an inspiring teacher.

Allow us to recognize Thee in all Thy holy names and forms,
as Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha.
Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Salomon,
as Zarathurstra, as Moses, as Jesus, as Mohammed
and in many other names and formes;
known and unknown to the world.

We adore Thy past, Thy presence deeply enlightens
our being and we look for Thy bessing in he future.
O Messenger, Christ, Nabi, the Rasoul of God!

Thou whose heart constantly reaches upward;
Thou comest on earth with a message as a dove from above
when Dharma decayeth, and speakest the word
which is put into Thy mouth
as the light filleth the crescent moon.

May the star of the divine light shining in Thy heart
be reflected in the hearts of Thy devotees.
May the Message of God reach far and wide,
illuminating and making the whole humanity
as one single family in the parenthood of God.

Amen

Inayat Khan

Surah 94. Solace, Consolation, Relief

Have We not expanded thee thy breast?- And removed from thee thy burden The which did gall thy back?- And raised high the esteem (in which) thou (art held)? So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief: Verily, with every difficulty there is relief. Therefore, when thou art free (from thine immediate task), still labour hard, And to thy Lord turn (all) thy attention.

Thank You For Hearing Me

Thank you for hearing me
Thank you for loving me
Thank you for seeing me
And for not leaving me
Thank you for staying with me
Thanks for not hurting me
You are gentle with me
Thanks for silence with me
Thank you for holding me
And saying I could be
Thank you for saying baby
Thank you for holding me
Thank you for helping me

Thank you for breaking my heart
Thank you for tearing me apart
Now I’ve a strong strong heart
Thank you for breaking my heart

The Dark Night

by St. John of the Cross

1. One dark night, fired with love’s urgent longings - ah, the sheer grace! - I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled.

2. In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, - ah, the sheer grace! - in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled.

3. On that glad night in secret, for no one saw me, nor did I look at anything with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart.

4. This guided me more surely than the light of noon to where he was awaiting me - him I knew so well - there in a place where no one appeared.

5. O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn! O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover.

6. Upon my flowering breast, which I kept wholly for him alone, there he lay sleeping, and I caressing him there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

7. When the breeze blew from the turret, as I parted his hair, it wounded my neck with its gentle hand, suspending all my senses.

8. I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on my Beloved; all things ceased; I went out from myself, leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.

translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD Copyright 1991 ICS Publications.

There Was No One Left

First they came for the socialists,
and I did not speak out
because I was not a socialist

Then they came for the social democrats
and I did not speak out
because I was not a social democrat

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left
to speak for me

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Three Things

By telling the truth,

by not growing angry,

by giving, when asked,

no matter how little you have,

by these three things,

you enter the presence of devas

Dhammapada
translated by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Water

Water says to the dirty
"Come here."
The dirty one says
"I'm so ashamed."
Water says
"How will your shame be washed away without me?"

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

What do I care for freedom

Liberation,
Bondage,
What are they to me?

What do I care for freedom?

For I have known God,
The infinite Self,
The witness of all things.

Without, a fool.
Within, free of thought.

I do as I please,
And only those like me
Understand my ways.

-Ashtavakra Gita 14:3-4

Who dare name Him?

Who dare name Him? And who avow: "I believe in Him?" Who feels and would have hardihood to say: "I don’t believe in Him?" The All-Enfolder, The All-Upholder, enfolds, upholds He not you, me, Himself? Do not the heavens over-arch us yonder? Does not the earth lie firm beneath? Do not eternal stars rise friendly looking down upon us? Look I not, eye in eye, on you, And do not all things throng toward your head and heart, weaving in mystery eternal, Invisible, visible, near to you? Fill up your heart with it, great though it is, And when you’re wholly in the feeling, in its bliss, name it then as you will, name it Happiness! Heart! Love! God! I have no name for that! Feeling is all in all; name is but sound and smoke, beclouding Heaven’s glow.  Goethe

Willie McBride

Willie McBride by Eric Bogle

1.
Well, how do you do, Private William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Chorus:
Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sound "The Last Post" in chorus?
Did the pipes play "The Flowers of the Forest"?

2.
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined?
And, though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you always nineteen?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

3.
The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

4.
And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.

‘Tis a gift to be simple

'Tis a gift to be simple
‘Tis a gift to be free
‘Tis a gift to come down
Where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves
In that place just right
We will be in the valley
Of love and delight.

When the true simplicity
Is gained
To bow and to bend
We shall not be ashamed
To turn and to turn it will
Be our delight
‘Till by turning and turning we
Come ’round right.

Shaker song