tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27402243596437386562024-03-13T16:44:28.386-04:00Lectio DivinaDuring the lectio divina, we listen in a prayerful way and speak from our hearts. We avoid an intellectual discussion. We keep responses relatively short. We do not judge or criticize each other’s responses. We speak out of our own experience. We resist the urge to give advice or fix things. We read each other’s responses with respect. If anyone would like to respond more than once, he or she may do so.Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.comBlogger160125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-46422756995252281032015-01-18T13:29:00.001-05:002015-01-18T13:31:29.243-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x9QfFXLWmVo/VLv6JgIqSnI/AAAAAAAAASw/B2g5djPlvxk/s1600/Website%2BLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x9QfFXLWmVo/VLv6JgIqSnI/AAAAAAAAASw/B2g5djPlvxk/s1600/Website%2BLogo.jpg" height="260" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Join me and my colleague Steve Standiford for a silent weekend retreat February 6 - 8th at the Garrison Institute overlooking the Hudson River one hour from New York by train. We will explore two contemplative practices, Centering Prayer, a form of silent meditation, and Lectio Divina, an ancient way of listening to sacred texts. This retreat has been changed from a five day to a two day retreat, which we hope will make it accessible to more people. For more information or to register, visit the <a href="http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/component/civicrm/?task=civicrm/event/info&reset=1&id=569&Itemid=534">Garrison Institute</a> website.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-52425364881404462152014-10-29T11:35:00.001-04:002014-10-29T11:35:48.468-04:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QsRrTq7WwtI/VFEIXTC7f2I/AAAAAAAAASg/mRwGqJGkOzs/s1600/Website%2BLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QsRrTq7WwtI/VFEIXTC7f2I/AAAAAAAAASg/mRwGqJGkOzs/s1600/Website%2BLogo.jpg" height="260" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
This five day silent retreat offers immersion in two contemplative practices from the Christian tradition: Centering Prayer, a form of silent meditation, and Lectio Divina, a way of listening to sacred texts with the ear of the heart. As long-time meditators know, the best way to integrate contemplative prayer into our daily lives is through practice and silence. This retreat, suitable for beginners or experienced practitioners, will emphasize time spent in practice. We will experience Lectio Divina in many different formats, as individuals and in groups.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/component/civicrm/?task=civicrm/event/info&reset=1&id=569&Itemid=534">Register here</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-24357991367668094372013-10-31T15:04:00.002-04:002013-10-31T15:05:24.822-04:00Lectio Divina Online replaced with News of the World Lectio Divina<br />
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;">I've recently begun creating a series of daily videos called News of the World Lectio Divina, which are inspired by Lectio Divina and which have come to replace the Lectio Divina Online postings. They combine chanting of the New York Times and the psalms and provide a way of entering into prayer for the world as if attending a very brief prayer service, one to three minutes long.</span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The ancient prayers of the psalms ask many of the same questions that we might be asking as we listen to the troubling events described in the news: </span>Where is God while all this is happening? Will God do anything if I pray? <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> Why is the world so lost? </span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;">Both the news and the psalms are full of material that may evoke difficult feelings in the listener. It’s all right to hear the words of prayer that are being chanted and not agree with them. Prayer does not demand that we stop questioning, doubting, thinking, or struggling to find our own voice. These prayers invite you to be with your thoughts and feelings about what is happening in the world and go deeper, whatever that may mean for you. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Palatino; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;">If you are interested, these videos can be found on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ57BUgQc1us8OKjTeI_Uiw">Youtube</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/newslectio?ref=hl">Facebook</a> and there is more information about them on my <a href="http://lindsayboyer.com/NewsoftheWorld.htm">website</a>. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;">
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvx0Aa6Jh0U/UnKpnFIXRDI/AAAAAAAAAR0/s3IFdCF23LM/s1600/FB+Titles+centered.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvx0Aa6Jh0U/UnKpnFIXRDI/AAAAAAAAAR0/s3IFdCF23LM/s640/FB+Titles+centered.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
</span></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-89640496721878892732013-09-19T16:43:00.002-04:002013-09-19T16:43:18.093-04:00Lectio Divina 157<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Luke 10:38 - 42</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-58901587297186930272013-08-28T12:26:00.005-04:002013-08-28T12:26:46.031-04:00Lectio Divina 156<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Marilynne Robinson, <i>Gilead</i>. New York: Picador, 2004, p. 179.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">So my advice is this – don’t look for proofs. Don’t bother with them at all. They are never sufficient to the question, and they’re always a little impertinent, I think, because they claim for God a place within our conceptual grasp. And they will likely sound wrong to you even if you convince someone else with them. That is very unsettling over the long term. “Let your works so shine before men,” etc. It was Coleridge who said Christianity is a life, not a doctrine, words to that effect. I’m not saying never doubt or question. The Lord gave you a mind so that you would make honest use of it. I’m saying you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own, not, so to speak, the mustache and walking stick that happen to be the fashion of any particular moment.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-12628927576621633382013-08-09T11:04:00.002-04:002013-08-09T11:04:20.393-04:00Lectio Divina 155<br />
<br />
<div style="font: 14.0px 'Hoefler Text'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Saul Bellow, quoted in <i>The New Yorker,</i> July 22, 2013</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px 'Hoefler Text'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px 'Hoefler Text'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">When you open a novel – and I mean of course the real thing – you enter into a state of intimacy with its writer. You hear a voice or, more significantly, an individual tone under the words. This tone you, the reader, will identify not so much by a name, the name of the author, as by a distinct and unique human quality. It seems to issue from the bosom, from a place beneath the breastbone. It is more musical than verbal, and it is the characteristic signature of a person, of a soul.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-84234654605437356982013-07-21T14:20:00.001-04:002013-07-21T14:20:29.966-04:00Lectio Divina 154<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Teresa of Avila</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: -1.1px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Christ has no body but yours,<br />
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,<br />
Yours are the eyes with which he looks with<br />
Compassion on this world,<br />
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,<br />
Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.<br />
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,<br />
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 13.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-11454213761826478422013-06-20T15:37:00.000-04:002013-06-20T15:37:00.427-04:00Lectio Divina 153<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, quoted in <i>Hinduism Today</i>, July/August/September 2013, 18.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Quotations there have been, in superabundance. But what original commentary can you supply from the uniqueness of your particular life? What holy text have you absorbed and made your own? In what ways have these timeless truths renovated your nature? Are you content to be a hollow phonograph, mechanically repeating the words of other men?</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-17946493053322891452013-05-25T21:14:00.003-04:002013-05-25T21:14:37.470-04:00Lectio Divina 152<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 17.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Richard Rohr, adapted from <i>The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity</i></span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 17.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Great science, which we once considered an “enemy” of religion, is now helping us see that we’re standing in the middle of awesome Mystery, and the only response before that Mystery is immense humility. Astrophysicists are much more comfortable with darkness, emptiness, non-explainability (dark matter, black holes), and living with hypotheses than most Christians I know. Who could have imagined this?</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 17.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-46425400252211891332013-05-01T15:24:00.004-04:002013-05-01T15:24:47.965-04:00Lectio Divina 151<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, <i>Sufism: The Transformation of the Heart</i>. The Golden Sufi Center, 1995.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Meditation creates an inner structure of consciousness that enables us to operate at a higher frequency. Through years of disciplined meditation we attune our whole being to the higher frequencies of divine love so that this intoxicating energy can flow through us. Faster and faster flow the currents of love, faster and faster spins the heart. If we resist this energy we could be dangerously battered. If we were not centered we would be thrown off balance. The ego cannot provide the stability and center we need. It must be surrendered so that we can stand on the rock of the Self. Surrender allows us to spin with the dance of total devotion. But as we learn to lose our mind in the empty spaces of the beyond, we also need to be able to come back to our everyday world. The inner world with its intimacy and freedom from restraints is intoxicating, and it can make the outer world seem a cold, alien prison. We carry the consciousness that we are exiles in this world. But one must not allow states of meditation to interfere with everyday life and work. One needs to be able to focus on the outer world and function on the level of the mind whenever necessary. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-45460490001145164302013-04-11T10:26:00.004-04:002013-04-11T10:26:34.300-04:00Lectio Divina 150<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, <i>Sufism: The Transformation of the Heart</i>. The Golden Sufi Center, 1995.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">God calls us with the irresistible attraction of love, which we experience as longing. In order to fully hear God’s call we have to allow ourself to be dissatisfied and unfulfilled, rather than trying to fill this painful vacuum with another distraction. We have to allow the pain of longing into our life. Longing is both the pain that burns away the veils of separation and the thread that guides us deeper and deeper within, until we are able to enter the innermost chamber of the heart where God is waiting. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-85988478838612244592013-03-12T16:15:00.000-04:002013-03-12T16:15:41.622-04:00Lectio Divina 149<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>Pema Chödrön, <i>When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times</i>. Shambhala, 2002.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy…</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way we like to dream about it. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, nonaggressive, open-ended state of affairs.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">To stay with that shakiness – to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge – that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic – this is the spiritual path.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-3465815585094487132013-02-18T16:13:00.002-05:002013-03-07T10:19:18.822-05:00Lectio Divina 148<b><br /></b>
<b>Saint Francis, quoted by Richard Rohr in an unpublished conference in Assisi, Italy in May, 2012.</b><br />
<br />
Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.<br />
<br />
<br />Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-19759484334729476242013-02-06T11:09:00.002-05:002013-02-06T11:09:29.884-05:00Lectio Divina 147<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Evening Gatha, from <i>Zen Mountain Monastery Liturgy Manual</i>. Mount Tremper, NY: Dharma Communications, 1998, p.47.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Let me respectfully remind you,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">life and death are of supreme importance.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Time swiftly passes by</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">and opportunity is lost.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Each of us should strive to awaken.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Awaken. Take heed.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Do not squander your life.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-45972960845062031642013-01-22T11:26:00.000-05:002013-01-22T11:26:00.526-05:00Lectio Divina One Hundred and Forty-Six<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Martin Luther King, Jr., “Playboy Interview,” in <i>A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr</i>., ed. James M. Washington. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991, p. 356.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">It disturbed me when I first heard [myself described as an extremist.] But when I began to consider the true meaning of the word, I decided that perhaps I would <i>like</i> to think of myself as an extremist – in the light of the spirit which made Jesus an extremist for love. If it sounds as though I am comparing myself to the Savior, let me remind you that all who honor themselves with the claim of being “Christians” <i>should</i> compare themselves to Jesus. Thus I consider myself an extremist for that brotherhood of man which Paul so nobly expressed: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Love is the only force on earth that can be dispensed or received in an extreme manner, without any qualifications, without any harm to the giver or receiver.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-31373422450034399062013-01-07T15:07:00.002-05:002013-01-07T15:08:31.643-05:00Lectio Divina One Hundred and Forty-Five<br />
<div style="font: 15.0px Georgia; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rainer Maria Rilke, <i>Letters to a Young Poet</i>. Stephen Mitchell, trans. New York: Vintage, 1986, p.88.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 10.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 13.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Georgia; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is in the end the only kind of courage that is required of us: the courage to face the strangest, most unusual, most inexplicable experiences that can meet us. The fact that people have in this sense been cowardly has done infinite harm to life; the experiences that are called “apparitions,” the whole so-called “spirit world,” death, all these Things that are so closely related to us, have through our daily defensiveness been so entirely pushed out of life that the senses with which we might have been able to grasp them have atrophied. To say nothing of God. But the fear of the inexplicable has not only impoverished the reality of the individual; it has also narrowed the relationship between one human being and another, which has as it were been lifted out of the riverbed of infinite possibilities and set down in a fallow place on the bank, where nothing happens.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-70524450253694769152012-12-11T17:45:00.004-05:002012-12-11T17:45:42.770-05:00Lectio Divina One hundred and forty-four<br />
<div style="font: 17.0px Georgia; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Mary Oliver, <i>New and Selected Poems </i>(Boston: Beacon Press, 1992), 110.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Wild Geese</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">You do not have to be good.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">You do not have to walk on your knees</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Meanwhile the world goes on.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">are moving across the landscapes,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">over the prairies and the deep trees,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">the mountains and the rivers.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">are heading home again.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">the world offers itself to your imagination,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">over and over announcing your place</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">in the family of things. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b></span><br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-53723967220926552952012-11-08T17:01:00.003-05:002012-11-08T17:02:00.279-05:00Lectio Divina One Hundred and Forty-Three<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Richard Rohr, from <i>A Teaching on Wondrous Encounters</i></span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The Bible is an invitation into the struggle itself—you are supposed to be bothered by some of the texts. Human beings come to consciousness by struggle, and most especially struggle with God and sacred texts. We largely remain unconscious if we avoid all conflicts, dilemmas, paradoxes, inconsistencies, or contradictions. Some people reject religion altogether because they are so unable to come to terms with the Bible and the ideas of Christianity. But we are supposed to be bothered by the Bible. The life of faith is a struggle to reconcile ourselves with the paradoxes and problems we find there. What do we find in ourselves that we know is deeply true that is in conflict with the Bible? What does the Bible tell us that challenges us to go deeper into ourselves? The truth is found neither by accepting all the religious ideas we are presented with nor by rejecting them.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-2370038204275994762012-10-22T14:17:00.000-04:002012-10-22T14:18:01.168-04:00Lectio Divina One Hundred and Forty-Two<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">David Frenette, <i>The Path of Centering Prayer: Deepening Your Experience of God</i>. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2012, p. 153.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Acting in gentleness shifts you out of the struggle to find God. Gentleness is necessary for the deepening of centering prayer. Your actions become more and more subtle in centering prayer as contemplation awakens in you. Actually, the sense that you have to achieve something, find some deeper depth, or go somewhere to discover God, other than where you are now, is an illusion. Let contemplation come effortlessly to you, as a continual gift out of the gifting nature of God. Contemplation is effortless in the same way that the falling of snow is effortless. It is effortless in the same way a light breeze blowing on your neck is effortless. It is effortless in the same way that the petals of a flower open into the sunlight. In receptive effortlessness, there is nowhere to go, nothing to deepen, not even any need to be gentle. The depth of contemplation is just being, effortlessly, in God.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-29574513019476209502012-09-27T13:48:00.005-04:002012-09-27T13:50:27.895-04:00Lectio Divina - One Hundred and Forty-One<br />
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>Thomas Merton, from <i>A Silent Action: Engagements with Thomas Merton</i>, by Rowan Williams. Fons Vitae 2011.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I can no longer see the ultimate meaning of a man’s life in terms of either “being a poet” or “being contemplative” or even in a certain sense “being a saint,” (although that is the only thing to be). It must be something much more immediate than that. I – and every other person in the world– must say “I have my own special peculiar destiny which no one else has had or ever will have. There exists for me a particular goal, a fulfillment which must be all my own – nobody else’s– and it does not really identify that destiny to put it under some category – “poet,” “monk,” “hermit.” Because my own individual destiny is a meeting, an encounter with God that He has destined for me alone. His glory in me will be to receive from me something which He can never receive from anyone else.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-85326505013333343612012-09-03T18:06:00.001-04:002012-09-03T18:07:28.298-04:00Lectio Divina - One hundred and Forty<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><i>Tao Te Ching</i>, trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1982, #80.</span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">If a country is governed wisely,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">its inhabitants will be content.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">They enjoy the labor of their hands</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">and don’t waste time inventing</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">labor-saving machines.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Since they dearly love their homes,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">they aren’t interested in travel.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">There may be a few wagons and boats,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">but these don’t go anywhere.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">There may be an arsenal of weapons,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">but nobody ever uses them.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">People enjoy their food,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">take pleasure in being with their families,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">spend weekends working in their gardens,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">delight in the doings of the neighborhood.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">And even though the next country is so close</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">that people can hear its roosters crowing and its dogs barking,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">they are content to die of old age</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">without ever having gone to see it.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><br /></span></span></p></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></div>Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-33119534831607930672012-08-21T17:30:00.000-04:002012-08-21T17:32:15.899-04:00Lectio Divina - One hundred and Thirty-nine<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;"><i>Tao Te Ching</i>, trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1982, #78.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">Nothing in the world</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">is as soft and yielding as water.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">nothing can surpass it.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">The soft overcomes the hard;</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">the gentle overcomes the rigid.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">Everyone knows this is true,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">but few can put it into practice.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">Therefore the Master remains</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">serene in the midst of sorrow.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">Evil cannot enter his heart.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">Because he has given up helping,</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">he is people’s greatest help.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;">True words seem paradoxical.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 130%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 13.0px Palatino; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-48258389335823050252012-08-02T11:03:00.000-04:002012-08-02T11:04:00.420-04:00Lectio Divina - One hundred and Thirty-eight<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><i><br /></i></span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><i>Tao Te Ching</i>, trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1982, #67.</span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Some say that my teaching is nonsense.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Others call it lofty but impractical.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">But to those who have looked inside themselves,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">this nonsense makes perfect sense.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">And to those who put it into practice,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">this loftiness has roots that go deep.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">I have just three things to teach:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">simplicity, patience, compassion.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">These three are your greatest treasures.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Simple in actions and in thoughts,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">you return to the source of being.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Patient with both friends and enemies,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">you accord with the way things are.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Compassionate toward yourself,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">you reconcile all beings in the world.</span></span></p><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></div>Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-14568068799581124712012-07-16T11:11:00.000-04:002012-07-16T11:12:26.662-04:00Lectio Divina - One hundred and Thirty-seven<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><i><br /></i></span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><i>Tao Te Ching</i>, trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1982, #45.</span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">True perfection seems imperfect,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">yet it is perfectly itself.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">True fullness seems empty,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">yet it is fully present.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">True straightness seems crooked.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">True wisdom seems foolish.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">True art seems artless.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">The Master allows things to happen.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">She shapes events as they come.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">She steps out of the way </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">and lets the Tao speak for itself.</span></span></p><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></div>Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740224359643738656.post-60965349104489902802012-06-19T10:49:00.001-04:002012-06-19T10:55:21.760-04:00Lectio Divina - One hundred and Thirty-six<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><i>Tao Te Ching</i>, trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1982, #36.</span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">If you want to shrink something,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">you must first allow it to expand.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">If you want to get rid of something,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">you must first allow it to flourish.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">If you want to take something,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">you must first allow it to be given.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">This is called the subtle perception</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">of the way things are.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino; min-height: 18.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">The soft overcomes the hard.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">The slow overcomes the fast.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Let your workings remain a mystery.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Just show people the results.</span></span></p></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></div>Lindsay Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763227261245245731noreply@blogger.com2