Showing posts with label Saint Teresa of Avila. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saint Teresa of Avila. Show all posts

Monday, November 16, 2020

a skill which can be cultivated





Learn self-conquest, preserve thus for a time,
and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it.
As soon as you apply yourself to contemplation,
you will at once feel your senses gather themselves together:
they seem like bees which return to the hive
and there shut themselves up to work at the making of honey.


~ Saint Teresa of Avila





Complete concentration is complete relaxation.
 The ability to work on a job with total concentration, 
and then put it out of your mind when necessary,
 is a skill which can be cultivated. 
Through practice, 
 
we can learn to drop whatever we are doing
 and turn our attention to a more urgent need.
 When you are absorbed in a favorite book 
and your partner interrupts you, 
set the book aside and give your complete attention
 to what he or she is saying.
 If part of your mind is on the conversation
 and part on what you have been reading, 
there will be division and tension in the mind. 
 
When we practice this one-pointedness during the day,
 it will greatly help our meditation.
 The mind will much more quickly become recollected. 



~  Eknath Easwaran


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Friday, March 27, 2020

all these insane borders we protect





A woman's body, like the earth, has seasons;
when the mountain stream flows,
when the holy thaws,
when I am most fragile and in need,
it was then, it seemed,
God came closest.

God, like a medic on a field, is tending our souls.
Our horns get locked with desires, but don't hold yourself
too accountable; for all desires are really innocent. 
That is what the compassion in His eyes tell me.

Why this great war between the countries -- the countries --
inside of us?

What are all these insane borders we protect?
What are all these different names for the same church of love
we kneel in together? For it is true, together we live; and only
at that shrine where all are welcome will God sing
loud enough to be heard.

Our horns got locked with the earth and sky in some odd
marriage ritual; so what, don't worry. We should be proud of
ourselves for everything we helped create in this
magic world.

And God is always there, if you feel wounded. He kneels
over this earth like a divine medic,
and His love thaws the holy in us.





~ St. Teresa of Avila
from Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West
version by Daniel Ladinsky
art by Steve Shinn








Thursday, October 24, 2019

learn self-conquest








Learn self-conquest, 
persevere thus for a time, 
and you will perceive very clearly
 the advantage which you gain from it. 

As soon as you apply yourself to contemplation, 
you will at once feel your senses gather themselves together: 
they seem like bees which return to the hive and there 
shut themselves up to work at the making of honey. 






~ Saint Teresa of Avila



Tuesday, September 24, 2019

in this state of prayer






So let's get on with it, my friends!
Let's do the work quickly and spin the silken cocoon,
relinquishing our self-centeredness and personal willfulness
and giving up our attachment to worldly things.
Let's practice humility, prayer, purification, surrender, 
and all the other good works we're familiar with.  
We have learned exactly what to do. Let's do it!
Let it die. Let the silkworm die. This is the natural outcome 
once it has done what it was created to do. 
Then we will see God and see ourselves nestled inside his greatness 
like the silkworm in her cocoon.
Remember that when I say we "see God," I mean in the sense
in which he allows himself to be seen in this kind of union.

Everything I've been saying leads up to what becomes of the silkworm.
The soul in this state of prayer dies to the world and emerges a little white butterfly.
Oh, the greatness of God!
How magnificent that the soul, having been hidden in the greatness of God
and so closely joined with him, is so transformed.
This union, I believe, is very short. 
I don't think it ever lasts longer than a half an hour.
I'm telling you: the soul doesn't recognize herself anymore.
Think of the difference between an unsightly worm and a white butterfly.
That's how different the soul is after her transformation of union.

The soul cannot imagine how she could deserve such a blessing.
She finds herself overflowing with a desire to praise the Lord.
She longs for annihilation.  She would gladly die a thousand
deaths for him.
She is completely willing to suffer any trials presented to her.
Her desire for renunciation and solitude grows deeper.
All she wishes is that every sentient being could know God.
It torments her to see her Beloved dishonored in any way. 




~ Saint Teresa of Avila
from The Interior Castle
translation by Mirabai Starr




 

Friday, May 31, 2019

the servant of unity







Most men in power have not the strength or wisdom
to be satisfied with the way
things are.

The sane know contentment, for beauty is their lover,
and beauty is never absent from the world.

The farther away light is from one's touch
the more one naturally speaks of the 
need for change.

Yes, overthrow any government inside
that makes you weep.

The child blames the external and focuses his energies there;
the warrior conquers the realms within
and becomes
gifted.

Only the inspired should make decisions
that affect the lives of many,

never a man who has not held God in his arms
and become the servant of 
unity.



~ St. Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582)
from Love Poems from God - Twelve Sacred Voices from East and West
translated by Daniel Ladinsky




Saturday, May 25, 2019

I loved what I could love






I had a natural passion for fine clothes, excellent food, and
lively conversation about all matters that concern the heart
still alive. And a passion about my own looks.

Vanities: they do not exist.

Have you ever walked across a stream stepping on
rocks so not to spoil a pair of shoes?

All we can touch, swallow, or say
aids in our crossing to God
and helps unveil the soul.

Life smooths us, rounds, perfects, as does the river the stone,
and there is no place our Beloved is not flowing
through the current's force you
may not always like.

Our passions help to lift us.

I loved what I could love until I held Him,
for then - all things - every world
disappeared.



~Saint Teresa of Avila
 art from the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

 

Friday, December 30, 2011

trying to reconcile






On the one hand I felt the call of God; on the other, I continued to follow the world. 
All the things of God gave me great pleasure, but I was held captive by those of the world. 
I might have been said to be trying to reconcile these two extremes, 
to bring contraries together: the spiritual life on the one hand and worldly satisfactions, 
pleasures, and pastimes on the other. 



~ Saint Teresa of Avila






Tuesday, July 6, 2010

I loved what I could love




I had a natural passion for fine clothes, excellent food, and
lively conversation about all matters that concern
the heart still alive.  And even a passion 
about my own 
looks.

Vanities: they do not exist.

Have you ever walked across a stream stepping on
rocks so not to spoil a pair of shoes?

All we can touch, swallow, or say
aids in our crossing to God
and helps unveil the 
soul.

Life smooths us, rounds, perfects, as does the river the stone,
and there is no place our Beloved is not flowing
though the current's force you
may not always
like.

Our passions help to lift us.

I loved what I could love until I held Him,
for then - all things - every world
disappeared.



~ Saint Teresa of Avila