Spirituality, Self-Knowledge and The Art of Living
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Category — Art of Prayer and Meditation

Christopher Hansard:[Why?]

Why let new tears drop to the ground

over over old events of the past?

 

Does sorrow live for ever?

Only grief would have you believe that

There comes a time when grief will pass away

and sorrow will no longer haunt the mind

or the actions of daily life

 

Why let new tears fall onto the ground?

 

Look up into the everness of the heart

look down, to the sides of your being

everywhere is the heart

 

The heart calls all those who wish for life

to come and bathe in the

light of wisdom and humour

 

why let old tears fall to the ground?

 

when all things pass away

and mankind is no more

when even the memory of starlight

loses its traces in the depths of space

 

the heart of all things

will still

beat

life’s rythymn

and sing

like a mother to a child

 

why let new tears drop to the ground?

 

each one, single, ample

pristine and full of life

holding history and potential

 

let your tears be ones of joy

joy for the sanctity of your being

and the beauty

of all that you have been

and shall be

May 7, 2008   No Comments

Christopher Hansard:[ Thankfulness]

Seeking, trying to find meaning, healing, loving, having a perfect life

comsuming, been Green and kinder, softer but blinder

in a rush but not knowing why, seeking , sensing, desiring

finding connection, establishing foundations

settling down.. these are some of the demands of the modern world

but they are not a modern life,

life makes its own path,

society creates false visions of it

life is complete in itself

if you can pause, and lowering your defenses

stop to receive the immensity of it

life offers us all that we need

not what we should consume

economic theories have infiltrated the beliefs of personality and identity

money and ethics have become intertwined

yet a flower or a raindrop, a mountain or a weed

they are complete in themselves and are nothing more than what they are

and yet by been just themselves, link one to the other

pause to receive life’s immensity and fecund gifts

then you will discover that when things are brought back to basics

they all come down to thankfulness 

April 28, 2008   No Comments

Christopher Hansard:[Love is Within Us]

 

ONE:

 

Wisdom has a sadness of its own, pensive like a cello playing in a soft snow fall

Compassion holds a knowingness that looks into all things with an unblinking eye

Anger seeks to include everyone in its rage of ignorance and self-defeat,

Greed seeks solace in having all it can to bury the oncoming fear

Lust craves a chance at halting mortality and believes in the tempoary as real

Illumination lights only what needs to be illuminated for the awakening of the Self happens in the dark

Loss and learning go together, and love and liberation are good friends.

 

TWO:

 

Love was within us before we came and went, love was in the first cosmic form
and fell in the first rainfall, love was within us and will be when we forget that we once dwelt
upon the Earth, love was within the first rising spark of Wisdom and the clear sight of Compassion
and Love took the journey willingly into the dark matter and confusion of the temporal world in order
to evolve back to its own recognition again.

THREE:

 

The human race is a pathway in which Love plies its course,
a river that flows through time and space
creating diversity and matter, consciousness and place,
perception and awakening and the nature of living light
Love has made the chance for Life
when it embraced itself openly with Light,

for Love and Life make Light and from that all things are:

for in Light, Consciousness takes form

shrouding Love’s constant breath
and in that come the two eternal seasons, mortal life and mortal death
two great teachings of Love and Light
by which the Cosmos and Consciousness descend and create form

April 27, 2008   No Comments

Mystery and Beauty

Mystery,

our life is full of mystery

Beauty,

our life is full of beauty

the mystery brings us understanding

the beauty brings us vision

the mystery reminds us of the sanctity

the beauty calls us to be whole

the mystery is a prompt

the beauty a reminder

of how our humanity

is a pathway

to the divine

in each

of us

 

mystery and beauty

voices within

faces of

compassion

wisdom

and

humour

and you

can find

a direct

experience

of them

by knowing

the laughter

that dwells

in the

essence

of

everything

you experience

April 21, 2008   No Comments

Reflections through Human Experience

 

1

Take A Walk Across the Land

Take a walk across the land,

or down the street, extend your hands,

feel the human pulse in all that is there

step back do you feel fear?

Take a walk across your life, or down the memories that make

the landscapes in your mind, through the crowded market place of emotions

and through the long rememberings of the longing heart,

extend you hands

..feel the human pulse in all that is there…

do you feel love?

 

I have flown the world on the sound of a single note from my heart,

the pure sound of sitar and guitar on the first morning light

 

2

The Sound of a Single Note

Each of us remains too frightened in our daily lives,

I have flown the world on the sound of a single note from my heart,

the pure sound of sitar and guitar on the first morning light

there are harmonic rhapsodies in the faces of love and fear,

call to them,

like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn

or the Snake Charmer of Lucknapoor ,

they will come scuttling to the tune,

fear comes like a horde of rats

because fear is stronger in a crowd and more curious,

love will come willingly for love is willing

and not because the piper calls but that

love knows that piper in order to heard needs to be followed

until the day that the piper casts the pipe away

Love and fear harmonic interplay

you can travel world on a single note

from future to the past and

the illusion of now

extend your hands and feel the human pulse

 

3

The Finder is Not the Knower

we are born to meander through the human pulse

in search of meaning and the celebration of our Self

If you seek to look for God or the answers to your life

stop and feel the human pulse

for all the names of God are found

in the human world in the beating heart and it essence

if you seek to be comforted, the comfort that is

within is to be reflected in the creation of friendship

if you seek for answers to your life then stop to know

the way of how you love and why you do

then give it up and you

will find the truth

whatever you may search for will be found

but on finding it then you must understand

understanding is the discoverer and explorer too

been the finder is not the knower

You may find God, You may find Meaning

You may find Love, You may find fame

Finding is not the Knowing

to know we must give up what we have found

to understand we must give up meaning

to have meaning we must give up all our prejudice

 

I have flown the world on the sound of a single note from my heart,

the pure sound of sitar and guitar on the first morning light

 

4

Unknown

In the world and in our heart there is the

divine, unknown, we seek to find a way to love

which will lead to us been known.

but all things return to the unknown

and the emergent

when you feel alone and lonely

separate and unknown

pause and offer up these states of being

as imperfect prayers to the unknown

and you will find that the

Cosmos and its Descent

will be falling within and up

bathing you in the Unknown

We are the Unknown

the lonely and the content

we are the journey and the last coin spent

we are the meaning and dreaming

and the reflections through human experience

 

I have flown the world on the sound of a single note from my heart,

the pure sound of sitar and guitar on the first morning light

5

What We Have Now is Also This

All is offering and acceptance

seeking its own delight

all our bitterness is a call for this

all our love and suffering too

what we have now is also this

what we seek is in the seeking

we fall in love with ourselves

this is what we seek

what we have now in the essence of our being

is what we had in the first impulse of our coming into being

we are reflections through human experience

 

I have flown the world on the sound of a single note from my heart,

the pure sound of sitar and guitar on the first morning light

6

With a Single Constant Breath Make Ourselves Again

Give up the patterns of your thoughts

the past, wherefores and whys

go beyond comparisons

beyond truth and lies

through the furnace of awakening

through the glamour of illusion

go beyond to

the one unspoken word

there is no this or that

there is no us or them

there is no good or bad

for the Cosmos and its Descent

only moves to find its way

a sunset and sunrise

a moonset and moonrise

fleeting light on fleeting lives

starlight, lovelight, carlights

there is

Awake and be kind to your heart

look out around you

to the mind field, that pattern which you call your life

there the mind field is a vast skein of light

harmonic interludes that create day, birth, night, death

and eternity

I have flown the world on the sound of a single note from my heart,

the pure sound of sitar and guitar on the first morning light

 

when the world is at last, swept away ,we will gather up the dust

and with a single constant breath

make our selves again in the image of our being

our creation will be

reflections through human and divine experience

April 18, 2008   No Comments

The Trace

Can you see yourself alone, in the company of your being,

beyond windswept lives and unlived dreams,

to a place where you stand unaided and strong,

with the Moon and Sun, Venus and Mercury under your feet?

Can you see yourself imagining life into being?

Can you see yourself as both child and parent,

as offspring of cognition and dreams?

Can you see yourself in the shopping mall as a bull fighter

against the raging minotaur inside of you and others?

It is not in the wide streets of our capitals

that the revolution of change will come,

but in the shopping malls

when consumers can no longer buy their crispy donughts,

or trinkets or lottery tickets,

or cheap knick-knacks, or food, or health or a favourite magazine…

…shopping malls have turned consumers into unknowing guerilla warfare experts

skilled in the art of self-deception and the need for fulfillment from things …

can you see your self calling for your real name to be revealed?

For Birth and Death to show you about Life?

Birth and Death are mere puntuation marks in a long sentence

enabling their readers to savour every word of Life

one word at a time,

there is no birth or death

only life

and life is a language

that all us will come to learn in time

can you see yourself imbuded with Life

no longer confused by birth nor death

two sides of the same window

can you see your Self looking through it

to what is on the other side?

Can you see your self not as others see you

but as your inner self does?

Don’t be in a rush to hurry to find the answer

follow each step and you will find

the trace

April 16, 2008   No Comments

Count the Voices

The world is made of crowds and all of them has a voice,

the crowd is made of men and women and children too

the world is made of crowds,

all trapped by the rumble of their voices and the toning of their phrases

can you count the voices?

Can you find one that calls for the crowds to give up their mental attachments

so each can become an individual..can you count the voices in your home,

your neighbourhood or town,

many say the same thing, many have nothing to say,

many do not know how to speak what is in their hearts,

many do not believe what their hearts have to say

can you count the voices?

On the first day and the last of humanity,

all will speak and every voice can be counted

not from judgement or destiny,

or a chosen few but because every heart will speak anew

can you count the voices a clock made of sound,

counting down counting up,

ticking, tocking

each voice a chime

count the voices and listen to those

that really speaking the language of the heart

for many speak the language of the world

which seemingly echoes the heart but has no foundation in the eternal

Listen, count the voices, are you one of them?

Speakers of the heart?

April 15, 2008   No Comments

The Four Fists

The First Fist is held high and states aloud, “If you enter into my territory I will defend myself and the consequence will be yours!’

This fist defends territory and the consequences engulf everyone. Territory eventually falls. Boundaries and borders may change but still keep their resilience.

The Second First is held high and states aloud, ” If you do not give me what I regard as mine I will take it from you!’

This fist is afraid and has no trust of the world.

This fist is afraid of aggression but is driven by what it fears most.

The Third Fist is held high and states aloud, ” If you try to take from others or from me I will use all reasonable force to protect my interests and those who I protect.”

This fist believes in the politics of the protector to get what is wants.

All of these three fists believe they are fair, just and compassionate. But all of exact huge costs, people, culture and environment, the present and the future are all altered.

The Fourth Fist is held high and states aloud , ” Look..my fist is unfolding to be a gesture of peace and friendship, join me.”

This fist seeks nothing but unity and cooperation.

It is stronger than the other three but has less attraction, for peace has no glamour or conquest, other than love for all that you fear the most and all that invades and seeks to change what you regard as yours.

Look at the World today, where do you see these four fists being held high?

Banners of human flesh on a strong and forceful wind.

April 10, 2008   No Comments

Change Takes Time

Have you ever thought to yourself or heard someone say,

” I thought I dealt with this!

I thought it was over and done with!

why did it take so long to deal with it..why Now?

I have wasted all the years, why couldn’t I have dealt with this years ago?’

Because change takes time, like true love, it takes the understanding of time

and the acceptance that change only comes when you are ready..

and often we may think we are ready, but deep within we are not

Change takes time, and time can only be a helper if you see time as agent of change

Time goes in cycles , not in a straight line..

Change goes in cycles, not in a straight line..

There are no straight lines within the growing psyche,

in the inner expression of spiritual change there always is to be found a cycle

of change and time, like two different coloured flowers on one slender plant

Time needs change to give meaning to humanity

and Change needs Time to grow and mature

We are all children of time and change

They are two of  twelve great mysteries that give humanity the impulse of evolution.

April 9, 2008   No Comments

What Will You Do?

What will You do when you can not put gas into your car?

What will You do when you can not buy your food at the supermarket?

What will you do if you can not find any water clean enough to drink?

What will you do when the lights go out?

What will you do if your software fails?

What will you do if all that you know suddenly falls apart?

What will you do?

What will you do when the rain fall burns your skin?

What will you do when the rain stops falling?

What will you do when the rain pours down day and night ?

What will you do when the last glacier evaporates?

What will you do when all the knowhow of all that you take for granted is meaningless and cannot save you?

What will you do?

Stand in the light of your own being and try not to be afraid, that is what you can do

When the Zoo gets raided for the meat in the cages what will you do?

When everyone around you is in despair what will you do?

Stand in the light of your being and try not to be afraid, that’s what you can do ..

Start now and learn how to know what to do,

Stand in the light of your being and try not to be afraid

Trust the cycle of spiritual unfoldment in the world

This is the sad time of the World versus the Earth, when there needs to be no competition

When the Earth asks you, and that day will come, what did you do? What will your answer be?

The World has no answer and no question. That is why many do not know what to do.

There are two species of humanity, one dwells within The World

The other dwells with the Earth..the choice is , what will you do?

March 21, 2008   No Comments