Tag: beauty

My kind of spirituality

By Cristen Rodgers Introduction by Pierre  Close to forty years ago, Byron Katie, for me one of the leading figures of the personal development movement during the past generation, made the comment that the greatest challenge to the world was … confusion. Not poverty, famine, war …and so many other challenges. This confusion is mainly…

The Quest for a Mustard Seed

 – or being of service to others When it comes to releasing the vibration of fear from your body, mind, and heart, the biggest fear by far is that of death—the death of yourself and the death of your loved ones. In the spiritual realm, it is the death of that individual ego that is…

A sunrise Taoist prayer

Shared by Nick Polizzi All we need is the morning.As long as there is sunrise,then there is the possibilitythat we can face all of our misfortunes,celebrate all our blessings,and live all our endeavors as human beings.Spirituality is something that has becomenecessary in these troubled times.Yet it is inherently superfluous.We need it to remind ourselves,to bolster…

Climate Change

A Blessing For the Challenges of Climate Change All round the world, populations are leaving their ancestral lands due to climate change, for instance various populations in the highlands of Nepal. Innovative new measures and policies are urgently needed to face what could with time become huge challenges for hundreds of millions. I bless the…

On Silence – Jean Klein

Silence is our real nature. What we are fundamentally is only silence. Silence is free from beginning and end. It was before the beginning of all things. It is causeless. Its greatness lies in the fact that it simply is. In silence all objects have their home ground. It is the light that gives objects…

Living a Life of Grace

By Madisyn Taylor When we accept that we always exist in a state of grace, we are able to live our lives more graciously. Grace exists inside of all of us and around us. It is our inner beauty that radiates outward, touching everyone we meet. It is that unseen hand that comes from the…

Creative Listening

“Listening is a true art, be it listening to one’s neighbor or anyone who is suffering, to one’s partner or children, not to mention the most important of all, listening to the Godhead. For this, I believe, is the true value of prayer: not telling an omniscient Deity what It already knows, but listening to what It is telling…

Reconciling the material and spiritual life

No one is asking you to completely neglect the material life in order to devote yourself solely to meditation and prayer, as some mystics or ascetics who wanted to flee the world, its temptations and difficulties, did. But to allow yourself to be monopolized by material concerns, as more and more humans are doing, is…

The Gifts of a Simple Life

Fr Richard Rohr, OFM from his October 8, 2020 meditation – used by permission We can summarize the transformative gifts of a truly Franciscan simple life in these ways: When we agree to live simply, we put ourselves outside of others’ ability to buy us off, reward us falsely, or control us by money, status,…

Excerpts from Footprints on the Path by Eileen Caddy

To love one another you must try to understand one another, and to understand you have to be able to communicate. Whether that communications is done in words or in silent action matters not as long as it is done in love, your heart is open and the love flows freely. Where there is love…

A Blessing for Mother Earth

By Pierre Pradervand Finally, humanity is just beginning to perceive that our planet is a living being which has been infinitely patient with the abuse we have wrought upon it. We bless Mother Earth in its infinite abundance and stunning beauty, the wealth of its fauna and flora, the infinite subtlety of its growth and…

Meaning of Life

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest — a kind…

The Importance Of Seeing The Good In All

Seeing the good in all

By Madisyn Taylor Our Comment: In a recent blog (https://gentleartofblessing.org/an-infinitely-friendly-universe/) Pierre wrote of his deep conviction (shared by many thinkers and mystics) that the universe is governed by a loving, benevolent intelligence.  Thus, all challenges we   personally face in this human existence are teaching tools that force us to progress on our spiritual path especially if…

A blessing for Earth Day ~ April 22

Earth Day 2018

For the Incredible Beauty of Creation Pierre Pradervand The incredible beauty of nature defies the wildest imagination. From the perfection of a tiny alpine flower no one will ever even see to the splendor of a star-studded summer’s night, through the intricate beauty of a seashell to the breathtaking harmony of a spider’s web, all…

90-Year-Old Czech Grandma Turns Small Village Into Her Art Gallery

Grandma's art gallery

By Hand-Painting Flowers On Its Houses “Life and its faculties are not measured by calendars …. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.”  MBE Anežka (Agnes) Kašpárková, a resident of Louka, a village in the Czech Republic and a former agricultural worker, picked up the hobby from other local women who had been doing…

We think we know so much …

We think we know so much …

We know how to reach the stars, but we don’t know how to respect the heavens and even less so the immensity of the cosmos. We know how to talk about love, but we have such difficulty loving while respecting the other and one’s self. We know how to bake bread, but we have trouble…

Lakota Prayer

Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you…

That we may walk in your beauty

You whose voice is heard in the breeze, Thou whose breath gives life to the world, we need your strength and your wisdom. Grant that we may walk in your beauty, That our eyes never tire of contemplating the golds and purples of sunset. Help us read messages you have hidden in the leaves and…