“Attention without feeling, I began to learn, is only a report. An openness – an empathy – was necessary if the attention was to matter…. Dear pine cone, let me hold you as you open.” Mary Oliver
What are you holding?
Pine cone
Forest path
“In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” Paulo Coelho
How do you appreciate your uniqueness?
Sunrise
…”how the emptiness
will bear forth
a new world
that you cannot fathom
but on whose edge
you stand.” Jan Richardson
What do you see when you peer over the edge?
More Geese
…”Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear,
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye
clear. What we need is here.” Wendell Berry
How do you know what you need?
Wild geese
…”Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.” Mary Oliver
What are you being offered?
Death
“Death is part of a much greater and much deeper event, the fullness of which we cannot comprehend, but of which we know that it is a life-bringing event. . . . What seemed to be the end proved to be the beginning; what seemed to be a cause for fear proved to be a cause for courage; what seemed to be defeat proved to be victory; and what seemed to be the basis for despair proved to be the basis for hope. Suddenly a wall becomes a gate, and although we are not able to say with much clarity or precision what lies beyond the gate, the tone of all that we do and say on our way to the gate changes drastically.” Henri Nouwen
How does the gate change our perception of death?
With the Eyes of the Heart 