The Talking Oak

Maxfield Parrish - Jason and the Talking Oak (1910)

BE AT PEACE WITH YOUR OWN SOUL

Be at peace with your own soul
then heaven & earth will be at peace with you.

Enter eagerly into the treasure
house that is within you,

And you will see the things that are in heaven,
for there is but one single entry to them both.

The ladder that leads to the Kingdom
is hidden within your soul...

Dive into yourself and in your soul
and you will discover the stairs
by which to ascend.


- St. Isaac of Syria (circa 7th century)
Nestorian monk from Beth Abhe on the Persian Gulf
Bishop of Nineveh (circa 660-680) -

The Sower 

Van Gogh, The Sower (1888)

Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth

For all our sins against her:

For our violence and poisonings

Of her beauty.

 

Let us remember within us

The ancient clay,

Holding the memory of seasons,

The passion of the wind,

The fluency of water,

The warmth of fire,

The quiver-touch of the sun

And shadowed sureness of the moon.

 

That we may awaken,

To live to the full

The dream of the Earth

Who chose us to emerge

And incarnate its hidden night

In mind, spirit, and light.

 

- John O'Donohue, from: In Praise of the Earth

Territory 

Territory (1957) by René Magritte

"Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.”

- Pema Chodron