Nelson Mandela

"There is no passion to be found in playing small- in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."  Nelson Mandela

Light

The lamps are different,
But the light is the same.
So many garish lamps in the dying brain's lamp-shop,
Forget about them.
Concentrate on essence, concentrate on Light
In lucid bliss, calmly smoking off its own holy fire,
The Light streams towards you from all things,
All people, all possible permutation of good, evil, thought, passion.
The lamps are different,
But the Light is the same.
One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind,
Endlessly emanating all things
One turning and burning diamond.
One, one, one.
Ground yourself, strip yourself down,
To blind loving silence.
Stay there, until you see
You are gazing at the Light
With its own ageless eyes.

- Rumi

Passionate Living

"There is no passion to be found playing small, settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."


- Nelson Mandela

It Doesn't Interest Me

"It doesn't interest me if there is one God
Or many gods.
I want to know if you beling - or feel abandoned;
If you know dispair
Or can see it in others.
I want to know
If you are prepared to live in the world
With it's harsh need to change you,
If you can look back with firm eyes
Saying "this is where I stand."
I want to know if you know how to melt
Into that fierce heart of living.
Falling toward the center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing
To live day by day
With the consequences of love
And the bitter unwanted passion
Of your sure defeat.
If you have been told
In that fierce embrace
Even the God's
Speak of God."

David Whyte

Heartfulness

"Heartfulness is knowing what your love and having the guts and grace to go for it.   It is a balanced blend of wisdom and passion."  Elizabeth Lesser

Hunger and the Heart's Message

"If we risk the imaginary dangers of being hungry for a passionate life - if we allow ourselves to feel the emptiness long enough and deep enough to hear the heart's  messages - we end up loving the longing itself.  We become less apt to want to rush to fill our every desire.  We allow ourselves to feel tender and open and even lonely without having to do anything about it.   Hunger becomes a sign of being alive."  Elizabeth Lesser

Joy

"Let yourself be silently drawn, by the strongest pull of what you really love."  Rumi

How Many?

How many people who believe they never dream are sleepwalking in their marriage, in their job, in their church, blindly adhering to ideas they never question, with no heart in what they are doing?"  Marion Woodman

Death and Rebirth

"Everything is dying and being reborn as something else, over and over, everyday, everywhere, in all kingdoms, species, elements and forms.  Nothing is wasted, everything has its purpose, all things are connected and are therefore eternal.   When we understand this, we can let go of our crippling compulsion to hang on tight to who we think we are and to what we think we need in order to survive.   We can enjoy what is given with gusto, grieve what is lost with passion, and dwell with humor and faith in the vast, infinite mystery."  Elizabeth Lesser

Shadow Work

"Now I know that 'right' without its shadow partner 'wrong', is a brittle and untested ideal.  Now I know that when we only show our light side to the world, our shadow grows restless, sucking into itself much of our energy and passion.   In order to release my trapped energy and awaken my best qualities, I had to engage my shadow.   I had to see how everything that I judged and feared in others was also in me.   I had to be broken open so fully that my whole self was laid out before me to own and forgive and love."  Elizabeth Lesser

Shaman Lover

"The Shaman Lover is a man or woman whose destiny is to heal the heartsick with the sweetness of love, and to give the gift of fire to those whose passion is frozen.   Sometimes the smartest response to the allure is to run away.  But sometimes the Shaman Lover has been sent by fate to blast us open, to awaken the dead parts of our body, to deliver the kiss of life.  And if we succumb, we are changed forever."   Elizabeth Lesser