"I Believe" from the Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw

"I believe in goodness as the ground of being. I believe in kindness as a way of life. I believe the poor are my partners in change, the hungry are my personal responsibility, the homeless are my relatives. I believe hope is stronger than fear, truth more enduring than lies, love more powerful than force. I believe there is a calling for every person, a vocation she is invited to fulfill, a purpose only he can realize. I believe in the sanctity of compassion, the blessing of simply showing up. I believe in the right to courageous tears and the empowerment of divine laughter. I believe in you. I believe in us. I believe to believe is why we live."

~ The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw

Cultivating Practical Wisdom

"We need to appreciate that cultivating wisdom is not only good for society but is, as Aristotle thought, a key to our own happiness. Wisdom isn't just something we "ought" to have. It's something we want to have to flourish.

At the heart of practical wisdom is the ability to contemplate our choices and discern the best course of action in the context of a particular set of circumstances, and in order to do that, we rely on framing the situation, telling good and relevant stories about it, and enlisting empathy--the ability to imagine another's thoughts and feelings--to grasp the full dimensions of the situation.

We can experience fear, confidence, desire, anger, pity and generally any kind of pleasure and pain either too much or too little, and in either case not properly. But to experience all this at the right time, toward the right objects, toward the right people, for the right reason, and in the right manner--that is the median and the best course, the course that is a mark of virtue."

~ Barry Schwartz, "Practical Wisdom: The Right Way To Do The Right Thing

The New Song by W.S. Merwin

For some time I thought there was time
and that there would always be time
for what I had a mind to do
and what I could imagine
going back to and finding it
as I had found it the first time
but by this time I do not know
what I thought when I thought back then
there is no time yet it grows less
there is the sound of rain at night
arriving unknown in the leaves
once without before or after
then I hear the thrush waking
at daybreak singing the new song.

~ W.S. Merwin, "The New Song" from The Moon Before Morning.

It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.

~ William Carlos Williams

"Demeter" by Genevieve Taggard

In your dream you met Demeter
Splendid and severe, who said: Endure.
Study the art of seeds,
The nativity of caves.
Dance your body to the poise of waves;
Die out of the world to bring forth the obscure
Into blisses, into needs.
In all resources
Belong to love. Bless,
Join, fashion the deep forces,
Asserting your nature, priceless and feminine.
Peace, daughter. Find your true kin.
--then you felt her kiss.

~ Genevieve Taggard, "Demeter" from "Claiming the Spirit Within: A Sourcebook of Women's Poetry

“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.” 

~ Thomas Merton

"What I Have Learned So Far" by Mary Oliver

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don't think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of -- indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.

~ Mary Oliver, "What I Have Learned So Far"