Veiled Truth

The truth need not be veiled,
for it veils itself from the eyes of the ignorant.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Excerpts from commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

It is the deaf ears of the heart and the closed eyes of the soul which prevent man from seeing and hearing it. There is a verse of a Hindustani poet which says:

0' self, it is not the fault of the divine Beloved
that you do not see Him, that you do not hear Him.
He is continually before you and He is continually speaking to you.
If you do not hear it and if you do not see it, it is your own fault.

It is for this purpose that every soul has been created and it is in the fulfillment of this that man fulfills the object of God.

Man is the most egoistic being in creation. He keeps himself veiled from God, the perfect Self within, by the veil of his imperfect self, which has formed his false ego. ... and when the ego is absolutely crushed, then God remains within and without, in both planes, and none exists save He.

Accepting What Is & Letting Go of What Isn't

Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

What does it take to come to the place where we can exchange pride for humility?
First we must stop the blasphemous charade of pretending that we are no good.
"I'm worthless" has often been spoken in the name of humility.
But these words, or any other words that express the same sentiment, are a self-indulgence and a cop-out.
The essence of humility is summed up in the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

Humility is truth.
To be humble is to know the truth about our limits, to recognize what can be changed, and to accept that all good things are possible with the help of our Higher Power.
Excessive pride prohibits acceptance because it prohibits the truth, and the truth is that some things are unchangeable.
Refusal to accept that truth gets us plenty of frustrations and anger - and no humility at all.

Today, I humbly ask God for the wisdom to accept what is and to let go of what isn't.

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen & Carol Larsen Hegarty

Work Of Recovery

Man can live his truth,
his deepest truth,
but cannot speak it.

Archibald. MacLeish

Let me have the trust to give myself to the work of recovery and follow it where it takes me.

Risk

I know that in embarking on non-violence

I shall be running what might be termed a mad risk.

But the victories of truth have never been won without risks.

Mahatma Gandhi

Elder's Meditation -- Your Words

Come into my heart this morning.
Allow me this day to live in the now.
Help me to see all the beauty You have created in all things.
Let me know myself.
Today, as I make mistakes, let me see them as lessons.
Guide me.
When I see others make mistakes, let me honor them for where they are.
Let me realize that they are Your children and only You, my Grandfather, knows what is really going on.
When my lips move, let the words be Your words.

Allow me to have the courage to speak Your truth.

Elder's Meditation -- The Truth

The truth shall set you free.
This is the truth.
When we speak the Truth, we do not need to be defensive.
Truth needs no defense.
When we speak the Truth, we do not need to attack because Truth cannot be attacked.
It is so easy to want to manipulate or to be deceitful or dishonest.
My head tells me I can get away with doing these things, after all everybody does it.

My Creator, today let me know Truth.

Let me live Truth.

Let me risk the Truth.

Let me make the Truth sweet.

Help me to make my word good.

Let Your spirit and intent be added to by words.

Let My thoughts be Truth.

Discovery Of Truth

A deep and genuine concern for other people will remind us that the discovery of truth is not to be a victory for some and a defeat for others.
Unless all can claim a share in that victory, truth itself will continue to be rejected by the losers, because it will be regarded as inseparable from the yoke of defeat.
And so, confrontation, controversy and the like might yield to a genuine united search for God's truth and how it can best be served.

-- From Saint of The Day

Don't Curse The Darkness

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
-- Chinese Proverb

With all the negativity that surrounds us, it is easy to become overwhelmed.
It is also tempting to fight against the negative or to declare war on it.
Yet a master teacher offered a better way: "Resist not evil, but overcome evil with good."
Imagine you are in a dark room.
Wanting the darkness to leave, you curse and fight against it.
But no matter how much effort you make, the darkness remains.
Turn on the light switch, however, and the night vanishes in an instant.
In a similar manner, when the light of truth is shed on a situation, fear and disharmony dissolve.
When you send out a positive thought to another person or take a constructive action, an enormous amount of good is accomplished.
Each good act begets another until a network of love and light is created.
The purpose of life is to reflect this light into places that are dark.
Let your light shine and stay focused on the power of love.
When enough of us have turned on our spiritual light switches, the earth will become as bright as a shining star.
Where, then, could darkness dwell?

Listening to Your Inner Voice by Douglas Bloch

Truth

Truth is like the sun.
You can shut it out for a time,
but it's not going to go away.

Humility

Two definitions of humility are
(1) being aware of one's own defects of character, and
(2) giving credit where credit is due.
This means if you do something and are successful because God gave you certain talents, give credit to God when someone tells you how well you did; this is being humble.
If you are successful at something, but had help from friends, spouse, neighbors, give credit to those who helped you; this is being humble.
If you have done a task and you alone accomplished it, give credit to yourself; this is being humble.
Say the truth and give credit where credit is due.

Creator, let me walk a truthful road today.

The Truth

Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.

True To Ourselves

We must be true inside, true to ourselves,
before we can know a truth that is outside us.
But we make ourselves true inside by
manifesting the truth as we see it.
--Thomas Merton

Be True To Yourself

When we ignore our inner leanings, however, trouble arises.
Trying to live out somebody else's life script is like putting a size 10 foot into a size 7 shoe.
The size simply does not fit.
No matter how hard you force yourself to adjust to your situation, the discomfort continues.
Why not start off with the right fit?
Acknowledge your unique gifts and talents, as well as your wants and needs.
Then seek out situations and circumstances that will allow them their full expression.
This route may take time, but the results are worth it -- a life of peace and fulfillment that comes from being true to yourself.

Drinking the Cup

After firmly holding the cups of our lives and lifting them up as signs of hope for others, we have to drink them. Drinking our cups means fully appropriating and interiorizing what each of has acknowledged as our life, with all its unique sorrows and joys.

How do we drink our cups? We drink them as we listen in silence to the truth of our lives, as we speak in trust with friends about ways we want to grow, and as we act in deeds of service. Drinking our cups is following freely and courageously God's call and staying faithfully on the path that is ours. Thus our life cups become the cups of salvation. When we have emptied them to the bottom, God will fill them with "water" for eternal life.

-- Henri Nouwen