Off in the nether lands, I heard a sound

Like the beating of heavenly wings

And deep in my brain, I can hear a refrain

Of my soul as she rises and sings

Anthems to glory and anthems to love

And hymns filled with earthly delight

Like the songs that the darkness composes to worship the light

Dan Fogelberg, from Nether Lands

I said to God, “Let me love you.” And He replied, “Which part?”

“All of you, all of you,” I said.

This time God said, “There is a hideous blemish on my body, though it is such an infinitesimal part of my Being—could you kiss that if it were revealed?”

“I will try, Lord, I will try.”

And then God said, “That blemish is all the hatred and cruelty in this world.”

St. Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Catholic theologian

"Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.”

Jesus, the first mystic of the Christian tradition

If it be your will

That I speak no more

And my voice be still

As it was before

I will speak no more

I shall abide until

I am spoken for

If it be your will

Leonard Cohen If It Be Your Will

“With all humility I say, it is God who should ask for forgiveness, not we, Him. Someday you will know this. A saint could explain.”

St. John of the Cross, a 16th century Christian mystic

And the seasons they go round and round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We’re captive on the carousel of time

We can’t return we can only look

Behind from where we came

And go round and round and round

In the circle game”

Joni Mitchell, The Circle Game

“Just these two words He spoke changed my life, “Enjoy me.”

St. Teresa of Avila, a16th century Catholic mystic

“All has been consecrated. The creatures of the forest know this, the earth does, the seas do, the clouds know as does the heart full of love.

Strange a priest would rob us of this knowledge and then empower himself with the ability to make holy what already was.”

St. Catherine of Siena, a 14th century Catholic mystic and “Doctor of the Church”

Having lunch in a field one day, I troubled an ant with a question. I asked of him humbly, “Have you ever been to Paris?” And he replied, “No, but I wouldn’t mind going.” And then he asked me if I had ever been to a famous ant city. And I regretted that I hadn’t, and was quick to add, “I wouldn’t mind, too!”

This led to a conclusion: There is life that we do not know of. How aware are we of all consciousness in this universe?

Meister Eckhart, a 13th-14th century Catholic monk and mystic

“With passion pray. With passion work. With passion make love. With passion eat and drink and dance and play. Why look like a dead fish in this ocean of God?”

Rumi, 13th century Sufi mystic and poet

“I think the moon is pregnant again. I hope she won’t sue me this time.”

Tukaram, 17th century Indian mystic and poet

“There's a blaze of light in every word

It doesn't matter which you heard

The holy or the broken Hallelujah”

Leonard Cohen,Hallelujah

“Tenderly, I now touch all things, knowing one day we will part.”

St. John of the Cross, a 16th century mystical poet

“It helps, putting my hands on a pot, on a broom, in a wash pail.

I tried painting, but it was easier to fly slicing potatoes.”

“In my travels I spent time with a great yogi. Once he said to me, “Become so still you hear the blood flowing through your veins.”

One night as I sat in quiet, I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast I know it is the source of all of us.”

Mirabai a 16th century Indian mystic and poet

“I don’t think there is such a thing as an intelligent mega-rich person. For who with such a fine mind can look out upon this world and hoard what can nourish a thousand souls.”

Kabir, a 15th-16th century Indian mystic and poet

“One may never have heard the sacred word “Christ,” but be closer to God than a priest or nun.”

St. Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Catholic theologian

“One day He did not leave after kissing me.”

Rabia of Basra, an 8th century Sufi mystic and saint

“How did those priests ever get so serious and preach all that gloom? I don’t think God tickled them yet. Beloved—hurry.”

St. Teresa of Avila, a 16th century saint and mystic

“You can see forever in a single drop of dew.

You can see that same forever if you look down deep inside of you.”

Dan Fogelberg Magic Every Moment