The Everlasting Source
Today’s post is by Clair Ullmann
Your physical attributes, like your body, are merely borrowed. Do not set your heart on them, for they are transient and only last for an hour. Your spirit in contrast is eternal: your body is on this earth, like a lamp, but its light comes from that everlasting Source above.
~Rumi
I live in a magical place at the edge of a dense forest, across a valley; a place that is quiet with silence and alive with the universe. My husband and I live in a little wooden house in the Austrian Alps at four thousand feet and are blessed with a family room that boasts wall to wall windows and invites us into a daily and sometimes hourly showing. I spend a lot of time here as I write and contemplate that which presents itself.
These words from Rumi coincided with a sudden change in the view outside my window. The landscape had been blanketed with snow the day before and now as I look outside it is a different scene. The trees have become quickly bare as the temperature rises and strips them of the fluffy white gown they have been wearing. The contrast between yesterday and today is striking. The trees, plump with snow, carried a temporary superficial beauty that took my breath away. I ran so often to get my camera to capture such wonder.
Today? Today they are being cleansed and brought back to their natural state for all to see. And in this natural state I can see them standing quietly and stately as they wait for what will happen next. As I look out at the forest, I see the light that shines through, no not the light from the sun (there is none), nor the reflection from the mountain, but the light within. Like us, their light comes from within.
This shifting vista prompted me to wonder why it is that we spend so much time on our exterior and so little time on our everlasting Source. How can we change our focus? Think about someone you really like being with and ask yourself why that is. How would you describe this person? How would others describe you? Is that description the way you want to be described and remembered?
When I am with someone, I normally look into their eyes. That is where I find the deeper person that radiates love, warmth, and compassion. That person generously shares that love, warmth and compassion so that I, too, may be a carrier and infect all those around me.
Try this experiment: be with someone today and have a conversation with them. Later recall that experience and see what you remember. Is it their clothes, their shoes, their hair, their external appearance? Or is it the inner self that is shown through the time together? It is also worth considering how you remember yourself during that exchange. Were you really present with that person, in that moment? Or were other considerations pulling you away?
May we remember that we are all ONE: the trees, the forest, the valley, the mountain, those we encounter each day and most importantly our very selves. We are One with the One.
Lovely, Clare, I will try this today. We miss seeing you more often. Mark