All these things

Today the light is near perfect (and near perfect is perfection itself, perhaps). A dazzling, resoundingly clear day: every object is well defined-not mathematically, but as if the essence was there for all to see, without its shadows. All these things are not without sadness, but not without beauty either. Perhaps it is always like this, a gift, and it is only the light within that fails.



You cannot stop time. It is not yours to own, bind, or possess. But you cannot stop wanting to stop it-that is, after all, the definition of civilisation, and that longing for stillness speaks to us of what is human, all too human.



Today, more than any other day, I am simply thankful for the words, images, and loved ones around me, for the time that has been given to me. Autumn is over, the winter light is now upon us. Chains of frail light gently falling, in the morning silver paths traced out by my footsteps through the lawns, heavy with dew; the harshness of our faces softens, as the light glances off window panes, alights on a piece of metal and shines brilliantly. Time conserves, and then moves on. There is always this tremendous opening up of other times and other places. Keep this with you. It will be useful. The world is a broken circle. Second spaces, re-vision. Capstones shift. Remember that.



Every beautiful form you have seen, every meaningful word you have heard-be not sorrowful all this must be lost; such is not really the case. The Divine Source is immortal and its outflowing gives water without cease; since neither the one nor the other can be stopped wherefore do you lament?...from the first moment when you entered this world of existence, a ladder has been set up before you...

--Rumi.



The good and just life is thus a process of clarification, a movement towards selfless lucidity, guided by ideas of perfection which are objects of love...The sun may be far away but its reflection in beauty is near..a sense of renewal in a particular place, a sudden vision in art and nature, joy experienced as pure, witnessing a virtuous action, a patient suffering, an absence of resentment, humble service, persistent heroism, innumerable things...Every individual has a collection of such things which might be indicated by various names and images: refuges, lights, visions, deep sources, protections, footholds, icons, starting points, sacraments, ..ritual forms, holy images. Thus may we learn that other worlds and other centres exist.

--Iris Murdoch.