Relationship With The Unknown

For the Artist at the start of Day

May morning be astir with the harvest of night;

Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question,

Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse

That cut right through the surface to a source.

 

May this be a morning of innocent beginning,

When the gift within you slips clear 

Of the sticky web of the personal

With its hurt and its hauntings,

And fixed fortress corners,

 

A morning when you become a pure vessel

For what wants to ascend from silence,

 

May your imagination know

The grace of perfect danger,

 

To reach beyond imitation,

And the wheel of repetition,

 

Deep into the call of all

The unfinished and unsolved

 

Until the veil of the unknow yields

And something original begins

To stir toward your senses

And grow stronger in your heart.

 ---John O'Donohue

Relationship with the Unknown is where my thoughts lie as I'm writing this today. Isn't it uncanny how when you ask Source a question, the message - the answer - comes through in so many different ways? Or maybe it's just that we're so focused that we're able to see and hear exactly what we need.

My meditation practice includes writing; after a period of quiet when I have a strong connection to Spirit, I pull out my journal and ask a few of the burning questions "harvested in the night". I write the question from one part of me and it is answered from another. And the answers always surprise me with their wisdom, confidence, vision, and peace. 

Today my question was "What is my purpose here, right now?" A familiar question, one I'm sure all of us have asked any number of times, each time as fresh and earnest as the time before.

The answer I got today, is that my purpose is to "abide in the mystery", in the place of "not-knowing", and to simply occupy that space, suspended like a cloud, until I am so full that a heavy rain of knowing falls within me.

That instead of searching for an answer, to shift my gaze to the layers of unknowing that are supporting me every moment, to hold my gaze with a soft focus and sense of appreciation, rather than a riddle I need to solve. 

See what I mean? I had no idea that would be the answer to my question when I threw it out there in my journal this morning, it's amazing the wisdom, the answers floating around the Cosmos, just waiting for us to ask the questions, like beacons, leading them to us.

Eagle was perched above the river, watching for salmon and keeping an eye on us as we took our morning walk. I love their company and always sad to see them disappear the end of January, when the salmon run is over.

Next post, in a couple days, I'm going to giving away a couple of copies of my newly released book, Layered Impressions; A Poetic Approach to Mixed Media Painting, so I hope you'll stop back.

Namaste.

Comments

[Joyce]

I just received your book today - it's beautiful! Whoever wins the copies will be in for a treat indeed!

[Kristin Hyde]

Beautiful post Katie...I too revel in the beauty of nature that surrounds us,and am also an animal lover.Amongst my menagerie I also have a Golden Retriever.I lost by beautiful cat yesterday and hadn't shed a tear...I was trying to stay strong! ...(until I read your post that was)...the words touched my soul and triggered my grief...
Namaste to you <3

[Patsy Zoline]

Thank you, Katie, for that quiet, beautiful, and deep entry. As I read it, I felt myself slowing down and emerging into the present for the first time today--and it's already 3:30 in the afternoon! It's so easy to be taken over by all the business, all the musts, all the ancient, crusty push and pull, do and do not. Taking a few deep, slow breaths. Thank you again.

[katie]

Joyce, thank you for the compliment on my book - I hope you enjoy the projects!

Kristin, I'm so sorry about the death of your kitty, it's so hard to lose a loved one and natural to feel such grief when we love deeply. xo

Patsy, breathing deep slow breaths with you...

[Jackie]

Beautiful post Katie! I've been reading lots of John O'Donohue lately - his words speak to my soul. I love how you listen for the answers to your questions. I think it's too loud in my head for me to hear and I get too impatient to wait - I'll have to slow down and just let them come, like you are.

[Michele]

I am truly blown away by this post!
Such beauty, hope and inspiration. I feel so peaceful after reading this.
Thank you!

[Laura]

Got my Layered Impressions the other day and have been enjoying it's beautiful company! Wonderful ideas, inspiring art and just plain old happy-making eye candy!!!!

[gloria martin]

Beautiful words of wisdom to start my day with! Thank you for the inspiration and tranquility. xo

[Maria]

lovely post! It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes. It's a long one but it just makes my heart sing.

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." -Rilke