Belonging

oh to belong to the
infinite - to variety - to the show of light in the wild-thrown sky.

**********

The East belongs to God
The West belongs to God
North and Southern lands
rest in the peace of His hands,

He, the sole just ruler,
intends the right things for every one,

...be this One glorified and praised
Amen.
Allama Iqbal

“Why doesn't the Earth fall? How can you walk upon it? It's the music. It's the music of the Earth, and the Sun, and the Stars. It's the music of yourself, vibrating. Yes, you are music too! You're all instruments. Everyone is supposed to be playing their part in this vast Arkestra of the Cosmos.”
- Sun Ra

“Many native cultures believe that the heart is the bridge between Father Sky and Mother Earth. For these traditions, the four-chambered heart, the source for sustaining emotional and spiritual health, is described as being full, open, clear, and strong. These traditions feel that it is important to check the condition of the four-chambered heart daily, asking: "Am I full-hearted, open-hearted, clear-hearted, and strong-hearted?"”
- Angeles Arrien, "The Four-Fold Way"

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.”
- H. Jackson Browne, Jr.

“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared..." St. Paul
- I Corinthians 2:9

“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling into at night.”
- Edna St. Vincent Millay

“I believe that life is given us so we may grow in love, and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower - the Light in my darkness, the Voice in my silence.”
- Helen Adams Keller

“With love one can live even without happiness.”
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist

“The world is a theatre of love.”
- Kashmiri Proverb (historical region of northwest India and northeast Pakistan)

“Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire.”
- François de la Rochefoucauld

“Our love is like a well in the wilderness where time watches over the wandering lightning. Our sleep is a secret tunnel that leads to the scent of apples carried on the wind. When I hold you, I hold everything that is - swans, volcanoes, river rocks, maple trees drinking the fragrance of the moon, bread that the fire adores. In your life I see everything that lives.”
- Pablo Neruda

“Before, I always lived in anticipation . . . that it was all a preparation for something else, something "greater," more "genuine." But that feeling has dropped away from me completely. I live here and now, this minute, this day, to the full, and the life is worth living.”
- Etty Hillesum

“The Place you are right now God circled on a map for you.”
- Hafiz, "Marrow of Flame" by Dorothy Walters

“The present is holy ground.”
- Alfred North Whitehead



**Photo of recent northern lights as seen from Australia above found here