• prayer,  quotes,  Thomas Merton

    the gift of silence, … and solitude

    A quiet cloudless predawn sky at Dixon Reservoir

    When I am liberated by silence,
    when I am no longer involved in the
    measurement of life,
    but in the living of it,

    I can discover a form of prayer in which
    there is effectively, no distraction.

    My whole life becomes a prayer.
    My whole silence is full of prayer.

    The world of silence in which I am immersed
    contributes to my prayer.
    Let me seek, then, the gift of silence, … and solitude,
    where everything I touch is turned into prayer:

    where the sky is my prayer,
    the birds are my prayer,
    the wind in the trees is my prayer,
    for God is all in all.

    Thomas Merton

    Someone introduced me to the above prayer/poem by Thomas Merton this past Saturday. This prayer resonates with me because both silence and prayer have become a major part of my adult life. I am never the same after standing in the silence and solitude before a predawn sky over Dixon Reservoir. I’ve come to believe it is in the silence and solitude I’m more apt to hear the prayers within me that do transform me. And in that transformation I’ve come to ponder the question, What would our world be like if more people listened in the silence and solitude of prayer? Plus, silence and solitude are great teachers at listening. I’d venture to say the world needs more listeners than talkers.

    I began writing this post on Sunday afternoon and will schedule its posting for 7:00 am today, which is when they start my surgery. I’ll let you know how that all turns out later.

  • landscape,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes,  sunrises

    Cloudless Horizon

    We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us.

    Thomas Merton

    I finished my taxes yesterday. My taxes are pretty easy because I do not have the millions that some of you have to deal with. I just enter zeros and I’m done. 😁

    I’ve been working on a couple of ongoing writing and photography projects the last few days and plan on more of that today. Drove to Pineridge Natural Area early this morning for predawn colors before having a mocha latte at Mugs. I’m usually not too excited with cloudless skies but this morning was an exception. Hope you are being true to yourself today!

  • landscape,  quotes,  sunrises

    Sunrise on Weld County Rd 13

    “For me landscape seems to be important for contemplation; anyway I have no scruples about it.”

    Thomas Merton

    I could easily change the word landscape to nature in the above quote simply because it resonates with me better. Anyway, I have no scruples about it.

  • clouds,  landscape,  Plants,  quotes,  sunsets,  trees

    A Part of It

    Solitude has its own special work: a deepening awareness that the world needs. A struggle against alienation. True solitude is deeply aware of the world’s needs. It does not hold the world at arm’s length.

    Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

    I consider myself a man of solitude, even more-so over the past few years. Some of that is due to a practice of prayer, silence, meditation, photography, a need for connection to nature and maturity through life experiences. One grandson calls me a hermit but mostly because I have a simple life, less attachment to things than he does.

    My solitude does not alienate me from some of the brokenness within the world. There are ways to keep abreast of world situations without sitting in front of a television or having our face glued to the news feed on our phones. Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of all the above. I’m finding ways to stay actively connected to the world, find solitude and not be alienated from the world.

    We are a part of all creation, not apart from. Wayne Teasdale says to experience solitude as a mystic or monk in the world and not be alienated from it is to be “… engaged in the world and with others but not attached to the world’s greed, indifference, insensitivity, noise, confusion, pettiness, unease, tension and irreverence.” I may be more aware of the worlds needs than I have ever been and always a part of it.

  • landscape,  mountains,  natural areas,  Plants,  quotes,  sunsets,  trees

    Happy Birthday Marcee

    Sun setting at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    “Love is not just something that
    happens to you… it is a certain
    special way of being alive. Love
    is, in fact, an intensification of
    life, a completeness, a fullness,
    a wholeness of life.” Thomas Merton

    Today is my sister’s birthday! Don’t let her know how I see her as a gift to us because it will go to her head! Have a super Awesome day! I ❤ you, Marcee!

  • Avian,  Canada Goose,  quotes

    Cosmic Dance

    Canada Geese at sunset

    When we are alone on a starlit night; when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children; when we know love in our hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet Bashõ we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash – at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the “newness,” the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident, provide a glimpse of cosmic dance.  

    Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation