Thursday, December 30, 2004

Sea Oats on Burke's Beach


Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere. Emerson

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

A Prayer for Healing

A Prayer for those in Southern Asia and East Africa for healing, strength, and peace in the wake of the tsunami. There but for the grace of God go I.

Now when the bardo of dying dawns upon me,
I will abandon all grasping, yearning and attachment,
Enter undistracted into a clear awareness of the teaching,
And eject my consciousness into the space of unborn awareness;
As I leave this compound body of flesh and blood
I will know it to be a transitory illusion.

Tibetan Book of the Dead – Padmasambhava
**************************************
Oh Almighty! Lead us from the unreal
to the real, from darkness to light!
From mortality to immortality!
Oh Almighty! May there be Peace! Peace! Peace!

Brihdaranyaka Upanisada 1:3:27
***************************************
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.

By the passing of time
surely one is in a state of loss
except those who have faith
and perform righteous deeds.

And those who enjoin upon one another
abiding by the truth,
and join upon one another steadfastness.

“The passing of time” - Dr. Lila Fahlman
***************************************
Blessed are they that mourn-
for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:3-10 –Jesus
***************************************
Benedict, when the storm rages
around me,
and I can hold on no more,
when the waves of fear engulf me
and I am weary,
battered and sore,
take me then and steer me
storm-tossed, broken and afraid,
into the arms of your safe harbour
safely home.

Prayer to St. Benedict - Fr. Dennis Ward O.S.B.

What's In A Name?


Isaiah isn't my real name. It's Tommy. I was born a Thomas the III, childhood friends called me Top cat, my old band-mates called me TC, I'm known as "dad" to my son, my associates call me Tom and my wife sometimes calls me every name in the book. When I first thought about designing my presence here on the web I knew I didn't want to use my real name because I wanted to free this "Tommy" to do some writing outside of himself. Not that it really matters to anyone but me- but, I caught a breath of freshness taking on the new identity of "isaiah."

Sometimes I think we become confined by our name and identity. The sound of our name, the letters that spell it out, and the years of baggage we have accumulated can act as a holding cell. We become so accustomed to our character that the world becomes old and stale.

The opposite of this can be true as well. The sound of our name from our lover's lips can make us light as air and take us to the edge of ecstasy and over. There's a sweetness that echoes through the house when I hear my son call out, "Hey dad." We create soothing works of music, art, poetry or craft a fine piece of wood- work which we are then compelled to autograph and hold forever as our very own.

So which is the case? Do names confine us or free us? Do we choose to hold on to old notions about our character and limit the roles we can play or can we find the courage to break free from the ego we have created in order to discover new and exciting- limitless possibilities?

One of my favorite quotes is from the great writer Susan Sontag who died yesterday. It helps me to see beyond myself into the realm of the Divine:

"The only interesting answers are the ones that destroy the question."

What is really in a name anyway? Posted by Hello

Friday, December 17, 2004

Best Prayer I've Heard In A Long Time

"Heavenly Father, help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night, is a single parent who worked nine hours that day & is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry & spend a few precious moments with their children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly, is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles & blocking our shopping progress, are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those that are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love."

*excerpt from an e-mail just received

Thursday, December 16, 2004

The Path


Posted by Hello
Long before you were born
you chose
to be here in this moment, right now.

Long before you were born
you chose
the pathway you would follow.

Long before you were born
you chose
this lifetime's lesson.

It may be you are just now remembering
standing before the One
and asking to learn.

It may be you will never remember
standing before the One,
and in that case you will still learn.

What comes my way will be.
Grace is in knowing this
and this alone.
2004

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Bluffton Sunset


When we start to believe the 'DVD' featured in the theatre of our minds and become engaged in the trials of the main character and all those minor characters surrounding we often are eluded into believing in the reality of the production- after all, we are the writer, director, and antagonist, but how soon we forget it is only a play of consciousness.

Let the greatest story ever told unfold as it must. Don't forget to turn around every now and again and look towards the back of the theatre to witness the beam of light casting its shadow onto the screen.

Light and shadow; scenes unfolding in perfect arrangement- choreographed, often rehearsed over an over again, seldom boring, and above all entrancing. How fascinating our play becomes to us.

The projectionist can only laugh, I suppose (do you laugh or do you cry?) How silly, how human that we must believe in a beam of light casting shadows onto the insides of our eyelids when we need only open them and witness the reality of our being.

*I must attribute the influence of Paramahansa Yogananda's writings here to this post. Posted by Hello

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Om Nama Siva



"In different forms God speaks and comes to you.
Stop sometimes. Look at a leaf.
I'll be speaking to you through the leaf, through a stone,
Through a drop of rain-
-Rain, so divine a blessing-
through an animal, food, through all."

by: Om Sai Ma
Posted by Hello

Wednesday, December 08, 2004


Cairns on Laurel Creek Trail Posted by Hello

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

May River Reflection



View

It is you that holds me together
and binds my elements
one unto another
that they may shape these thoughts
in conforming with what is to be,
some circle of love
that unites you and me,
and how otherwise
could our two souls have met?
Our union in time
was so surely set
as when God was self born,
so were we-part of one
that our very essence negates all question
of how love re-creates its conception.
1997


Monday, December 06, 2004

Lotus Christ


Lotus Christ, unfolding
drawing up through self, through self
until I drop aside.

Gone, is the beggar.
2004

Friday, December 03, 2004


Sea Pines Sunset Posted by Hello

Wednesday, December 01, 2004


Pinckney National Wildlife Refuge, Hilton Head Island, SC
photo by: James Berry (friend and brother-in law) Posted by Hello

Site Meter