tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20429083.post1686545218136321035..comments2024-03-19T05:26:04.770-04:00Comments on A Year of Reading: Our Wonderful World.7Mary Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078793537148794310noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20429083.post-72843239151879261322014-04-09T11:13:04.794-04:002014-04-09T11:13:04.794-04:00I love that brief darkness. It feels very portento...I love that brief darkness. It feels very portentous. Liz Steinglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14614059299412727544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20429083.post-74166847946522085082014-04-07T23:04:01.945-04:002014-04-07T23:04:01.945-04:00Such big truth here, I think…
“Hagia Sophia”
at ...Such big truth here, I think…<br /><br />“Hagia Sophia”<br /><br />at its beginning<br />faith is a red orange crackling<br />flame, noisy, hungry<br />all-consuming, insatiable<br />and yet called to deep stillness.<br /><br />There is a quiet call.<br /><br />Pure and undefiled<br />religion tends to widows,<br />cares for fatherless,<br />gives without hope of repayment<br />turns the other cheek.<br /><br />He speaks again.<br /><br />Abba Father says<br />Child I have this against you<br />you have lost your first<br />love, and let gray ash replace<br />my sacred burning flame.<br /><br />How easy it is<br />to let the raging fire<br />be extinguished ‘til<br />it becomes nothing more than<br />a museum exhibit. <br /><br />(c) Carol Wilcox, 2014 Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13294455230627182656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20429083.post-46953051581806502412014-04-07T21:17:58.215-04:002014-04-07T21:17:58.215-04:00This makes me think of a Zen story that I quite li...This makes me think of a Zen story that I quite like. <br /><br />One day, a nun named Wujincang asked the sixth Zen patriarch, Huineng, "I've been studying the nirvana sutra for years and years, and there are still some passages that I don't quite understand. Co you think you could explain them to me?"<br /><br />Huineng told her, "I'm sorry, but I can't read. If you can read the passages out for me, I'll see if I can help you understand them."<br /><br />The nun asked, "If you can't even read the words, how can you understand the truth behind them?"<br /><br />Huineng explained, "The truth and words are unrelated. The truth can be compared to the moon, and words can be compared to a finger. I can use my finger to point out the moon, but my finger is not the moon, and you don't need my finger to see the moon, do you?"Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08765828584460927971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20429083.post-53874403387235520072014-04-07T17:25:06.525-04:002014-04-07T17:25:06.525-04:00I had the privilege of visiting Turkey in the summ...I had the privilege of visiting Turkey in the summer of 2011. Hagia Sophia was closed, but we saw the outside and have wonderful memories of our day in Istanbul. <br />Your metaphor is not lost on me. I wish religions could come to understand that we are all in this together. Margaret Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04434866104385187658noreply@blogger.com