o heart-down place
where life bubbles with the Spirit's grace
where slow-motion murmurings herd
into the ears of contemplative space
dark waters flow 'neath inner light
irrigating dry-prayers of the night
planting faith 'tween rows of hope
in soil plowed by blades of love
there, Living is alive
and the Real, seed for persons and bread
*Now
where
nothing
moves
everywhere
-Jerry Schroeder
*Reflections of Alan Jones:
-Many experience the past as a burden, even a tragedy. When we experience life as a waste of time, we lose hope. As Jacob Needleman writes, "There is that in us which could give us an entirely different kind of future than the one we are trying to fabricate from our anxious imaginings." He points out that the way we experience the passing of time depends entirely on the degree to which we are either seeking truth or pursuing a lie. It is because of our lies and self-deceptions that we suffer from spiritual starvation. What are we? What are we meant to be? Whom are we meant to serve? These are both faith questions and truth questions. The spiritual life is about beginning again, about rebirth, about God as a great incomprehensible presence within each one of us. We are not what we think we are. We are both more and less: more, because we are deeper and lovelier than we know; less, because we often inflate ourselves by power, money or arrogance to compensate for our feared insignificance. As Needleman write, "We squander our time because we do not remember the truth about ourselves or about the world in front of us." When we pursue a lie, we are ruled by negative emotions: fear, guilt, self-pity, hurt feelings, anger, lovesickness. We nurse these feeling and become addicted to negativity, self-pity, and resentment. We even hug our guilt over trivial things.
-The deeper we get into the subject of truth-telling, the more complex it becomes.
-If I want to know the truth about you, I have to rely on your reveling something of your inner self.
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