Contradiction

"When we discover the supreme happiness of unity within ourselves we reconcile what once seemed irreconcilable.  Opposites become partners.   Our longing for stability in a constantly changing world becomes humorous.  Our desires for connection and our troubles with intimacy become grist for the spiritual mill.  We allow diversity to flourish within the context of unity.   We understand that the unadulterated, pure, singleness of feeling we long for can be experienced only when we allow all feelings to live in peace within our hearts."  Elizabeth Lesser

Inspiration

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

Rilke
Book of Hours, I 59

Soulmates

"It is as if millions of years before the silence of nature broke, your lover's clay and your clay lay side by side.  Then in the turning of the seasons, your one clay divided and separated.   You began to rise as distinct clay forms, each housing a different individuality and destiny.   While your clay selves wandered for thousands of years through the universe, your longing for each other never faded.   This metaphor helps to explain how in the moment of friendship two souls suddenly recognize each other.   There is an awakening between you, as sense of ancient knowing.   You come home to each other at last."   John O' Donahue