 Dear Friends
Whoops! We did it again! We forgot we were human beings, and became utterly convinced for a while that we were human doings. Then came all the rushing around, chasing our tails, working from early in the morning till late at night, ‘eating the bread of sorrows', so to speak. And that swamp of questions – you know them – ‘Am I doing it right? Am I doing enough? Will I be able to do it?’, not to mention all that angst – ‘I don't have enough energy, I don't have enough time, I don't have enough money, I don't have enough talent', and so on and so on, ad nauseam. What a way to carry on.....
But happily, there is the seashore (or the garden, or the riverbank). And luckily, we can sit down there from time to time. And just listen.
Be still, nature whispers.
Be still and KNOW.
Be still – that's what you must always do first.
Then the ‘being' part of you can come out to play,
and inspire and inform the ‘doing' part of you.
And being still, what do we know?
That we do not have to give love,
for we are Love.
We do not have to seek joy,
for we are Joy.
We do not have to make peace,
for we are Peace.
Being these things,
they spread out from us quite naturally,
and go where they are needed.
Remaining still,
we can move the whole world.
A number of spiritual groups and teachers recommend that we set aside a certain time each day for letting the ‘being’ part of ourselves come out to play. Some say that the hour of twelve o’ clock is especially helpful. It is also said that the important thing is the regularity of it – that we do it at the same time every single day, come rain or shine, for this regularity makes it much easier for the ‘being’ part of ourselves to impose its rhythm and order on all the other parts of us.
Lots of people (such as the lady on this month’s Chat Page) suggest that we use this special time to send out thoughts of peace, love and healing into the world. These can then gather together with other thoughts of the same kind, to provide a reservoir of help and solace that can be drawn on, whether consciously or unconsciously, by all who need it and are open to it.
We’ve often tried to send out thoughts like these, but all too frequently we’ve been in a ‘doing’ state of mind at the time, rather than the ‘being’ state of mind. And then we’ve observed a certain artificiality about the thoughts we have been producing, and we’ve not been satisfied with them at all, for they clearly were not hitting the mark.
How different, though, on the occasions when we've remembered to be first, rather than to do. For, when you allow to fall away all the superficial, all the outer trappings of a human being (even though they may be metres thick!), what do you have left? Why, only Light, only Love, only a fathomless Peace that passes all understanding. This is our true Name. And this, this is our song, our rhythm, our whole being:
‘Glory be to God on high
and on Earth peace,
goodwill to all men.’
Knowing, remembering, being this, it flows out from us quite naturally, more naturally – even – than breathing.
With much love from all of us!
Geoff, Ann, Jackie, Derek, Martyn, Jackie M, Sue, Samantha, Regina, Jon, Sam, Sandra, Pat, Karena, Louisa, Mary, Emma, and Belinda.
Text & photographs © Cygnus Books 15-Oct-2001
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