Called into Life

longing and belonging

Longing is the voice of your soul, it constantly calls you to be fully present in your life, to live to the full the one life given to you. Rilke said to the young poet, "Live everything." You are here on earth now, yet you forget so easily. You traveled a great distance to get here. The dream of your life has been dreamed from eternity. You belong within a great embrace that urges you to have the courage to honor the immensity that sleeps in your heart. When you learn to listen to and trust the wisdom of your soul's longing, you will awaken to the invitation of graced belonging that inhabits the generous depths of your destiny. You will become aware of the miracle of presence within and around you.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the book, Eternal Echoes
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

“True love is boundless like the ocean and, swelling within one, spreads itself out and, crossing all boundaries and frontiers, envelops the whole world.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” ~Albert Einstein

“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” ~Nelson Mandela

“Not to mend one’s ways when one has erred is to err indeed.” ~Confucius

“The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own souls.” ~Thomas Merton

“As a child, I understood how to give. I have forgotten that grace since I became civilized. I lived the natural life, whereas I now live the artificial. Any pretty pebble was valuable to me then, every growing tree an object of reverence.” ~Ohiyesa (American Indian)

“Love courses through everything. No, love is everything. How can you say, there is no love, when nothing but love exists? All that you see has appeared because of love. All shines from love, All pulses from love, All flows from love– No, once again, All is love!” ~Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi

“Hatred ever kills, love never dies. Such is the vast difference between the two… The duty of a human being is to diminish hatred and to promote love.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

“See simplicity in the complicated, seek greatness in small things. In the Universe, the difficult things are done ss if they were easy.” ~Lao Tsu

“To love another person is to see the face of God.” ~Victor Hugo

“When we see God in each other we will be able to live in peace.” ~Mother Teresa

“In this world, hate never dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible.” ~The Buddha

Peace in the World Begins with You https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/peace-in-the-world-begins-with-you/

SPIRITUAL WISDOM: Recognizing the Sacred in Our World https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/spiritual-wisdom-recognizing-the-sacred-in-our-world/

Perpetual Curse of the Warrior Mindset https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/perpetual-curse-of-the-warrior-mindset/