Online meditations

by Marianne Bentzen

Meditation June 2nd, 2020

June 2 Keltic poem 'Blessing'

May the blessing of Light be on you, - light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine on you,

and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may come and warm himself at it, and also a friend.

And may the light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in two windows of a house, bidding the wanderer to come in out of the storm.

And may the blessing of the Rain be on you – the soft sweet rain.

May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up,

and shed their sweetness on the air.

And may the blessing of the Great Rains be on you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave their many a shining pool where the blue of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.

And may the blessing of the Earth be on you – the great round earth; may you ever have a kindly greeting for them you pass as you go along the roads.

May the earth be soft under you when you rest out upon it, tired at the end of a day, and may it rest easy over you when, at the last, you lay out under it –

so lightly over you that your soul may be up and off from under it quickly, up and off and on its way to God.

And now may the Lord bless you and bless you kindly.

Meditation May 26th, 2020

Meditation May 26:

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered

LOVE THEM ANYWAY

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives

DO GOOD ANYWAY

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies

SUCCEED ANYWAY

The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow

DO GOOD ANYWAY

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable

BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight

BUILD ANYWAY

People really need help but may attack you if you help them

HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth

GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU'VE GOT – ANYWAY

Kent M. Keith (2001): Anyway. The paradoxical commandments. Finding personal meaning in a crazy world.

Meditation May 19th, 2020

Meditation May 12th, 2020

Sentences May 12 (https://thesunmagazine.org/issues/324/sy-safranskys-notebook-324):

DEEPENING MY AWARENESS is a challenge. It isn’t a challenge because my parents didn’t love me enough. It’s a challenge because it’s a challenge; I don’t need to take it personally. I’ve spent years excavating my past, sorting and cataloging the wreckage. But who I really am, the essential truth of my being, can’t be grasped by the mind, no matter how acute my insights. I’ve confused introspection with awareness, but they’re not the same. Becoming the world’s leading expert on myself has nothing to do with being fully present.