#Apostle Of Solitude

[thetoxicvault]

[lesdeuxmuses]

Apostle Of Solitude / Rituals Of The Oak / The Flight Of Sleipnir - Apostle Of Solitude / Rituals Of The Oak / The Flight Of Sleipnir (Eyes Like Snow, 2011)

[biblebloodhound]

In the Place of Life (1 Peter 4:1-6)

There are times in our lives when we need to explore the place between our hurting hearts and the hunting for joy.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and…

[nousrose]

From snobs to scavengers, all expend their criminal generosity, all hand out formulas for happiness, all try to give directions: life in common thereby becomes intolerable, and life with oneself still more so; if you fail to meddle in other people’s business you are so uneasy about your, own that you convert your self into a religion, or, apostle in reverse, you deny it altogether; we are victims of the universal game. The abundance of solutions to the aspects of existence is equaled only by their futility. History: a factory of ideals, lunatic mythology, frenzy of hordes and of solitaries. Refusal to look reality in the face, mortal thirst for fictions. The source of our actions resides in an unconscious propensity to regard ourselves as the center, the cause, and the conclusion of time. Our reflexes and our pride transform into a planet the parcel of flesh and consciousness we are. If we had the right sense of our position in the world, if to compare were inseparable from to live, the revelation of our infinitesimal presence would crush us. But to live is to blind ourselves to our own dimensions. And if all our actions—from breathing to the founding of empires or metaphysical systems—derive from an illusion as to our importance, the same is true a fortiori of the prophetic instinct. Who, with the exact vision of his nullity, would try to be effective and to turn himself into a savior? Nostalgia for a world without ideals, for an agony without doctrine, for an eternity without life. Paradise. But we could not exist one second without deceiving ourselves: the prophet in each of us is just the seed of madness which makes us flourish in our void. The ideally lucid, hence ideally normal, man should have no recourse beyond the nothing that is in him. I can imagine him saying: “Torn from the goal, from all goals, I retain, of my desires and my displeasures, only their formulas. Having resisted the temptation to conclude, I have overcome the mind, as I have overcome life itself by the horror of looking for an answer to it. The spectacle of man—what an emetic! Love—a duel of salivas. All the feelings milk their absolute from the misery of the glands. Nobility is only in the negation of existence, in a smile that surveys annihilated landscapes. Once I had a self; now I am no more than an object. I gorge myself on all the drugs of solitude; those of the world were too weak to make me forget it. Having killed the prophet in me, how could I still have a place among men?”

A Short History of Decay

E. M. Cioran

[syrakhanistan]

FromSoft music for PMMM-MGNQ characters

((Possible spoilers for both PMMM and MGNQ.

Moemura/Glasses - A Moment of Peace [DS1]

Akemi Homura - Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin [DS2]

Akemi Homura (Wraith Arc/Pre-Rebellion) - Malenia, Blade of Miquella [ER]

Homulily, Fated Demise - Dark Reality [KF4]/Lord’s Apparition [ER]

Homucifer; Akemi Homura, Devil of Love - Point of No Return [AC6]

Transcendent One (post-Homucifer) - Lady Maria Phase 1 [Bloodborne]

Awakened Transcendent One - Lady Maria Phase 2 [Bloodborne]

Faust/Human Gretchen - ALLMIND [AC6]

Kaname Madoka - Promised Consort [ER-SOTE]

Madokami - The Final Battle Phase 1 [ER]

Awakened Madokami, the Blessed Lady - The Final Battle Phase 2 [ER]/Do You Remember? take2 [AC:FA]

Kriemhild Gretchen - The Omen King [ER]

Ultimate Kriemhild - Nashandra [DS2]

Sayaka Miki - Knight Artorias [DS1]

Oktavia von Seckendorf - Lichdragon Fortissax [ER]

Sayaka Miki, the First Knight (Angel of Madoka) - Great Grey Wolf Sif [DS1]/Steel Haze (Rusted Pride) [AC6]

Sakura Kyoko - Rough and Decent [AC6]

Ophelia, Remnant of Flame - Ornstein & Smough [DS1]

Sakura Kyoko, Knight of Blood (Officio Eversor) - Nameless King [DS3]

Mami Tomoe - The First Hunter [Bloodborne]

Candeloro, Invitation to Despair - Administrator [AC3]

Mami Tomoe, Architect of Heaven (Officio General-Secretary) - Coral Guardian [AC6]

Nagisa Momoe, Angel of the Blessed Lady - Divine Beast Dancing Lion [ER-SOTE]

Charlotte, Scourge of the Banquet - Mytha, the Baneful Queen [DS2]

Hitomi Shizuki - For the Dark Soul [DS3]

Chiaki Matsuda (pre-Akashic) - Mohg, Lord of Blood [ER]

Chiaki Matsuda (post-Akashic) - Mechanized Memories [AC5]

Midori Hanegawa - Pontiff Sulyvahn [DS3]

Midori, Miracle of Salvation - Contact with You [AC6]

Kharn the Betrayer - Lord of Frenzied Flame [ER-SOTE]

Kharn, the Betrayed - Legacy [AC6]

Haruka Amane, Prognosticator for the Fallen - Abyss Watchers [DS3]

The Seven Deadly Sins, Forsworn of the Devil - Godskin Apostles [ER]

Vintage Karasawa, Raven of Lost Times - Maiden in Black [DSR]

Hazuki Amane, Warmaster of the First Officio - Infall [AC6]

The Stranger, Fool of Fates - Black Knives [ER]

Hazuki Amane, Godslayer - Sister Friede (Phase 2) [DS3]

Incubator, Master of Fate - Bayle the Dread [ER-SOTE]

Kyuubey, Abomination of the Void (post-Rebellion) - Kalameet [DS1]

Itchy, Emperor of Destiny - Elder Inquisitor [ER-SOTE]

Lucius, Scion of the Third - Laurence, the First Vicar [Bloodborne]

Oriko Mikuni, Master of the Past (Oriko in Oriko Magica) - Regal Ancestor Spirit [ER]

Oriko-Ahriman, Fallen Emissary (Ahriman controlling Oriko through the Staff) - Orphan of Kos [Bloodborne]

Kirika Kure, Sword of Agony - Suppression (PCA Helicopter) [AC6]

Isabeau de Beauvoir, the Burning Empress - Dragonlord Placidusax [ER]

Special Bonuses:

Kaname Madoka vs Akemi Homura - Gwyn, Lord of Cinder [DS1]

Madokami vs Homucifer - Soul of Cinder [DS3]

Sayaka Miki vs Kyoko Sakura - Remains [DS2]

Battle against Homulily and the Incubator - Lament over the Howling Age [AC5]

Inside the Akashic Realm, Home of the Witches - The Ancient Dragon (Ash Lake) [DS1]

Infiltrating the Transcendent One’s Tower of Solitude - Destroy the Ice Worm [AC6]

Mami’s Betrayal (PMMM and MGNQ) - Manus, Father of the Abyss [DS1]

Chiaki vs Midori (Reprise) - Cries of Coral [AC6]

Walpurgisnacht (PMMM) - Bell Gargoyle [DS1]

Walpurgisnacht (MGNQ) - Those United in Common Cause [ER-SOTE]

…

Yeah, this list is a bit funky. BUT I started thinking of it at random, started writing, and here we are. What can I say, really??))

[myremnantarmy]

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐩𝐞

O Our Lady of Guadalupe, mystical rose, make intercession for Holy Church, protect the Sovereign Pontiff, help all those who invoke thee in their necessities, and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from thy most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, burning charity and the precious gift of final perseverance.

Dearest Lady, fruitful Mother of Holiness, teach me Your ways of gentleness and strength. Hear my prayer, offered with deep felt confidence to beg this favor…

(𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆..)

O Mary, conceived without sin, I come to your throne of grace to share the fervent devotion of your faithful Mexican children who call to Thee under the glorious title “Guadalupe” – the Virgin who crushed the serpent.

Queen of Martyrs, whose Immaculate Heart was pierced by seven swords of grief, help me to walk valiantly amid the sharp thorns strewn across my path. Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom to fortify my will to frequent the Sacraments so that, thus enlightened and strengthened, I may prefer God to all creatures and shun every occasion of sin.

Help me, as a living branch of the Vine that is Jesus Christ, to exemplify His divine charity always seeking the good of others.

Queen of Apostles, aid me to win souls for the Sacred Heart of my Savior. Keep my apostolate fearless, dynamic, and articulate, to proclaim the loving solitude of Our Father in Heaven so that the wayward may heed His pleading and obtain pardon, through the merits of Your Merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

[eagna-eilis]

Ach-To and Irish Archaeology

The sequels were my entry into Star Wars and I never would have gone to see The Force Awakens if I wasn't an archaeology nerd.

During the production of Episode VII, a decent number of people with an interest in our archaeological heritage here in Ireland were quite worried about the impact of filming on one of our only two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the island known as Skellig Michael down off the coast of Kerry.

I went to the film to see if any potential damage was worth it, or if they'd do something unspeakably stupid with it in-universe. I wanted to see if it was respected.

And holy hell I was NOT disappointed. I think I walked out of TFA sniffling to myself about how beautiful the Skellig looked and how it seemed like its use as a location was not just respectful but heavily inspired by its real history.

See, Skellig Michael was a monastic hermitage established at a point when Christianity was so new that the man who ordered its founding sometime in the first century CE was himself ordained by the Apostle Paul. The fellah from the Bible who harassed all and sundry with his letters, THAT Apostle Paul. This is how old a Christian site the Skellig is. It predates St. Patrick by at the very least two hundred years.

The steps we watch Rey climb were originally cut NEARLY TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO. They have been reworked and repaired many many times since, of course. Still, the path the camera follows Daisy Ridley up is as much an ancient path built by the founders of a faith in real life as it is in the movies.

A hermitage was a place where monks went to live lives of solitude and asceticism so as better to achieve wisdom. The practice is common to many of the major world religions, including the myriad East Asian faiths which inspired the fictional Jedi.

It is said that the hermitage and monastery were originally built with the purpose of housing mystical texts belonging to the Essanes, one of the sects of Second Temple Judaism which influenced some of the doctrines of Christianity. They also, according to what I have read, characterised good and evil as 'light' and 'darkness' and were celibate.

As such, the use of the island in TFA and TLJ does not merely respect Skellig Michael's history, it honours it. It is framed as somewhere ancient and sacred, which it is. It is framed as a place where a mystic goes to live on his own surrounded by nature that is at once punishing and sublime, which of course it was. It shown to be a place established to protect texts written at the establishment of a faith, which it may well have been.

This level of genuine respect for my cultural heritage by Rian Johnson in particular is astonishing. I don't think anyone from outside the US ever really trusts Americans not to treat our built history like it's Disneyland. Much of the incorporation of the Skellig's real past into a fictional galactic history occurs in TLJ, which is why I'm giving Rian so much credit.

It's Luke's death scene which makes the honouring of Irish archaeological history most apparent though.

Johnson takes the archaeological iconography back a further three thousand years for his final tribute to my culture's beautiful historical temples. This time, he incorporates neolithic passage tomb imagery, specifically that of Newgrange, which is up the country from the Skellig.

I think if you understand what the image represents then it makes a deeply emotional scene even more resonant.

The scene I'm referring to is Luke's death.

As he looks to the horizon, to the suns, we view him from the interior of the First Jedi Temple. The sunset aligns with the passageway into the ancient sanctuary, illuminating it as he becomes one with the Force.

As for Newgrange, every year during the Winter Solstice it aligns with the sunrise. The coldest, darkest, wettest, most miserable time of the year on a North Atlantic island where it is often cold, wet, and miserable even in the summer. And the sun comes up even then, and on a cloudless morning a beam of sunlight travels down the corridor and illuminates the chamber inside the mound.

You guys can see this, right? The similarity of the images? The line of light on the floor?

Luke's death scene is beautiful but I think it's a thousand times more moving with this visual context. Luke's sequel arc isn't merely populated by a lore and iconography that honour the place where the end of his story was filmed, I think that incorporation of that history and mythology honours Luke.

We don't know for sure what the Neolithic people believed, religion-wise. We know next to nothing about their rituals. We know that there were ashes laid to rest at Newgrange. There is some speculation that the idea was that the sun coming into the place that kept those ashes brought the spirits of those deceased people over to the other side.

It's also almost impossible not to interpret the sunlight coming into Newgrange as an extraordinary expression of hope. If you know this climate, at this latitude, you know how horrible the winter is. We don't even have the benefit of crispy-snowwy sunlit days. It's grey and it's dark and it's often wet. And every single year the earth tilts back and the days get long again.

The cycle ends and begins again. Death and rebirth. And hope, like the sun, which though unseen will always return. And so we make it through the winter, and through the night.

As it transpired the worries about the impact of the Star Wars Sequels upon Skellig Michael were unfounded. There was no damage caused that visitors wouldn't have also caused. There also wasn't a large uptick in people wanting to visit because of its status as a SW location, in part I think because the sequels just aren't that beloved.

But they're beloved to me, in no small part because of the way they treated a built heritage very dear to my heart. I think they deserve respect for that at the least.

[fromkattoyou]

entry no. 7—

You are the trembling hands of my faith,

the place where belief falters and gives way to longing.

What is holy anymore,

when your voice eclipses prayer,

when your touch rewrites the gospel of my solitude?

You stand as both savior and heretic,

a truth I cannot worship,

a lie I cannot deny.

I have bent my knees before certainty,

but you are the storm that razes temples,

the quiet blasphemy that makes my heart quake.

You unravel me like scripture torn apart,

line by line,

until I am nothing but offerings at your feet.

There is no room for reason in the cathedral of your gaze.

I burn candles to your name,

but they only illuminate my confusion.

How do I love you without losing myself?

How do I hold you when my grip

makes you more divine and me less whole?

Take this heart, if it is what you seek.

It is cracked open for you,

a chalice of submission poured at your feet.

I do not understand you,

and yet, I love you more

for every question you leave unanswered,

every fracture you carve into the walls of my belief.

I have given you the entirety of me—

the soft flesh,

the tender doubt,

the faith I didn’t know I could lose.

You are my reckoning,

my divine, aching paradox.

You are the void I fall into,

the tether that frays,

yet somehow holds.

Every time I reach for you,

I grasp shadows,

but I cannot stop reaching.

Your silence baptizes me in ache,

a ritual of longing that feels sacred,

though it is sharp and unkind.

I kneel, not out of devotion,

but desperation,

and still, you stand unmoved.

If love is faith,

then I am both apostle and fool,

bearing your name on my lips

as if it were salvation,

as if it could save me

from myself.

[hieromonkcharbel]

Can the Ladder, a work written by a hermit monk who lived 1,400 years ago, say something to us today? Can the existential journey of a man who lived his entire life on Mount Sinai in such a distant time be relevant to us?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

After 20 Catecheses dedicated to the Apostle Paul, today I would like to return to presenting the great writers of the Church of the East and of the West in the Middle Ages. And I am proposing the figure of John known as Climacus, a Latin transliteration of the Greek term klimakos, which means of the ladder (klimax). This is the title of his most important work in which he describes the ladder of human life ascending towards God. He was born in about 575 a.d. He lived, therefore, during the years in which Byzantium, the capital of the Roman Empire of the East, experienced the greatest crisis in its history. The geographical situation of the Empire suddenly changed and the torrent of barbarian invasions swept away all its structures. Only the structure of the Church withstood them, continuing in these difficult times to carry out her missionary, human, social and cultural action, especially through the network of monasteries in which great religious figures such as, precisely, John Climacus were active.

John lived and told of his spiritual experiences in the Mountains of Sinai, where Moses encountered God and Elijah heard his voice. Information on him has been preserved in a brief Life (PG 88, 596-608), written by a monk, Daniel of Raithu. At the age of 16, John, who had become a monk on Mount Sinai, made himself a disciple of Abba Martyr, an "elder", that is, a "wise man". At about 20 years of age, he chose to live as a hermit in a grotto at the foot of the mountain in the locality of Tola, eight kilometres from the present-day St Catherine's Monastery. Solitude, however, did not prevent him from meeting people eager for spiritual direction, or from paying visits to several monasteries near Alexandria. In fact, far from being an escape from the world and human reality, his eremitical retreat led to ardent love for others (Life, 5) and for God (ibid., 7). After 40 years of life as a hermit, lived in love for God and for neighbour years in which he wept, prayed and fought with demons he was appointed hegumen of the large monastery on Mount Sinai and thus returned to cenobitic life in a monastery. However, several years before his death, nostalgic for the eremitical life, he handed over the government of the community to his brother, a monk in the same monastery.

John died after the year 650. He lived his life between two mountains, Sinai and Tabor and one can truly say that he radiated the light which Moses saw on Sinai and which was contemplated by the three Apostles on Mount Tabor!

He became famous, as I have already said, through his work, entitled The Climax, in the West known as the Ladder of Divine Ascent (PG 88, 632-1164). Composed at the insistent request of the hegumen of the neighbouring Monastery of Raithu in Sinai, the Ladder is a complete treatise of spiritual life in which John describes the monk's journey from renunciation of the world to the perfection of love. This journey according to his book covers 30 steps, each one of which is linked to the next. The journey may be summarized in three consecutive stages: the first is expressed in renunciation of the world in order to return to a state of evangelical childhood. Thus, the essential is not the renunciation but rather the connection with what Jesus said, that is, the return to true childhood in the spiritual sense, becoming like children. John comments: "A good foundation of three layers and three pillars is: innocence, fasting and temperance. Let all babes in Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3: 1) begin with these virtues, taking as their model the natural babes" (1, 20; 636). Voluntary detachment from beloved people and places permits the soul to enter into deeper communion with God. This renunciation leads to obedience which is the way to humility through humiliations which will never be absent on the part of the brethren. John comments: "Blessed is he who has mortified his will to the very end and has entrusted the care of himself to his teacher in the Lord: indeed he will be placed on the right hand of the Crucified One!" (4, 37; 704).

The second stage of the journey consists in spiritual combat against the passions. Every step of the ladder is linked to a principal passion that is defined and diagnosed, with an indication of the treatment and a proposal of the corresponding virtue. All together, these steps of the ladder undoubtedly constitute the most important treatise of spiritual strategy that we possess. The struggle against the passions, however, is steeped in the positive it does not remain as something negative thanks to the image of the "fire" of the Holy Spirit: that "all those who enter upon the good fight (cf. 1 Tm 6: 12), which is hard and narrow,... may realize that they must leap into the fire, if they really expect the celestial fire to dwell in them" (1,18; 636). The fire of the Holy Spirit is the fire of love and truth. The power of the Holy Spirit alone guarantees victory. However, according to John Climacus it is important to be aware that the passions are not evil in themselves; they become so through human freedom's wrong use of them. If they are purified, the passions reveal to man the path towards God with energy unified by ascesis and grace and, "if they have received from the Creator an order and a beginning..., the limit of virtue is boundless" (26/2, 37; 1068).

The last stage of the journey is Christian perfection that is developed in the last seven steps of the Ladder. These are the highest stages of spiritual life, which can be experienced by the "Hesychasts": the solitaries, those who have attained quiet and inner peace; but these stages are also accessible to the more fervent cenobites. Of the first three simplicity, humility and discernment John, in line with the Desert Fathers, considered the ability to discern, the most important. Every type of behaviour must be subject to discernment; everything, in fact, depends on one's deepest motivations, which need to be closely examined. Here one enters into the soul of the person and it is a question of reawakening in the hermit, in the Christian, spiritual sensitivity and a "feeling heart", which are gifts from God: "After God, we ought to follow our conscience as a rule and guide in everything," (26/1,5; 1013). In this way one reaches tranquillity of soul, hesychia, by means of which the soul may gaze upon the abyss of the divine mysteries.

The state of quiet, of inner peace, prepares the Hesychast for prayer which in John is twofold: "corporeal prayer" and "prayer of the heart". The former is proper to those who need the help of bodily movement: stretching out the hands, uttering groans, beating the breast, etc. (15, 26; 900). The latter is spontaneous, because it is an effect of the reawakening of spiritual sensitivity, a gift of God to those who devote themselves to corporeal prayer. In John this takes the name "Jesus prayer" (Iesou euche), and is constituted in the invocation of solely Jesus' name, an invocation that is continuous like breathing: "May your remembrance of Jesus become one with your breathing, and you will then know the usefulness of hesychia", inner peace (27/2, 26; 1112). At the end the prayer becomes very simple: the word "Jesus" simply becomes one with the breath.

The last step of the ladder (30), suffused with "the sober inebriation of the spirit", is dedicated to the supreme "trinity of virtues": faith, hope and above all charity. John also speaks of charity as eros (human love), a symbol of the matrimonial union of the soul with God, and once again chooses the image of fire to express the fervour, light and purification of love for God. The power of human love can be reoriented to God, just as a cultivated olive may be grafted on to a wild olive tree (cf. Rm 11: 24) (cf. 15, 66; 893). John is convinced that an intense experience of this eros will help the soul to advance far more than the harsh struggle against the passions, because of its great power. Thus, in our journey, the positive aspect prevails. Yet charity is also seen in close relation to hope: "Hope is the power that drives love. Thanks to hope, we can look forward to the reward of charity.... Hope is the doorway of love.... The absence of hope destroys charity: our efforts are bound to it, our labours are sustained by it, and through it we are enveloped by the mercy of God" (30, 16; 1157). The conclusion of the Ladder contains the synthesis of the work in words that the author has God himself utter: "May this ladder teach you the spiritual disposition of the virtues. I am at the summit of the ladder, and as my great initiate (St Paul) said: "So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love' (1 Cor 13: 13)!" (30, 18; 1160).

At this point, a last question must be asked: can the Ladder, a work written by a hermit monk who lived 1,400 years ago, say something to us today? Can the existential journey of a man who lived his entire life on Mount Sinai in such a distant time be relevant to us? At first glance it would seem that the answer must be "no", because John Climacus is too remote from us. But if we look a little closer, we see that the monastic life is only a great symbol of baptismal life, of Christian life. It shows, so to speak, in capital letters what we write day after day in small letters. It is a prophetic symbol that reveals what the life of the baptized person is, in communion with Christ, with his death and Resurrection. The fact that the top of the "ladder", the final steps, are at the same time the fundamental, initial and most simple virtues is particularly important to me: faith, hope and charity. These are not virtues accessible only to moral heroes; rather they are gifts of God to all the baptized: in them our life develops too. The beginning is also the end, the starting point is also the point of arrival: the whole journey towards an ever more radical realization of faith, hope and charity. The whole ascent is present in these virtues. Faith is fundamental, because this virtue implies that I renounce my arrogance, my thought, and the claim to judge by myself without entrusting myself to others. This journey towards humility, towards spiritual childhood is essential. It is necessary to overcome the attitude of arrogance that makes one say: I know better, in this my time of the 21st century, than what people could have known then. Instead, it is necessary to entrust oneself to Sacred Scripture alone, to the word of the Lord, to look out on the horizon of faith with humility, in order to enter into the enormous immensity of the universal world, of the world of God. In this way our soul grows, the sensitivity of the heart grows toward God. Rightly, John Climacus says that hope alone renders us capable of living charity; hope in which we transcend the things of every day, we do not expect success in our earthly days but we look forward to the revelation of God himself at last. It is only in this extension of our soul, in this self-transcendence, that our life becomes great and that we are able to bear the effort and disappointments of every day, that we can be kind to others without expecting any reward. Only if there is God, this great hope to which I aspire, can I take the small steps of my life and thus learn charity. The mystery of prayer, of the personal knowledge of Jesus, is concealed in charity: simple prayer that strives only to move the divine Teacher's heart. So it is that one's own heart opens, one learns from him his own kindness, his love. Let us therefore use this "ascent" of faith, hope and charity. In this way we will arrive at true life.

Vatican, Feb. 11, 2009

[raytm]

its morbin time 💥💥💥💥💐💐💐💐💐🌹🌹🌹🧎🧎🧎🚶🚶🚶🚶🚶🚶🚶💀💀💀💀💀⚰️⚰️⛪️🕊️

the dictum that love conquers all was mendacity, becoming a casualty of its ludicrous narrative -  that had never been in the cards for him. it had been brazen of him to think himself immune, that it would not wedge its way beneath his metal hide and contaminate him with its saccharine malady. without his humanity it had become easy to consider himself impervious, yet here he was, the taunt musculature of his arm aims with fatal precision, but he hesitates in pulling the trigger. it was fatuous to believe salvation awaited them, that amongst the impassive, coruscating stars they would find even a slither of mercy. the thick carapace hide is impregnable from a far distance, its swivelling, serpentine eyes nictitate with a second, gossamer film, as they search for him. this bounty was not allocated to him with a vow of copious wealth, it was personal, to some extent, it was quite likely it was his fault things had divagated this far. he hadn’t sworn fealty to the antiquated ways of that primitive aeon and like all omnipotent, ethereal entities, she was pissy. this punitive intervention included the rupturing of flesh, scales jutting from once soft skin, tenuous bone splintering and fusing together in a grotesque image of divine retribution. the eldritch monstrosity’s maw gaped, a yawning cavern of rows and rows of serrated teeth but it was not that which struck fear to the marrow of his bones, it was the soul which was tethered to its mutilated husk. the path the knight walked was ordained by the aeon’s doctrine, a linear passage of enlightenment for others and immense solitude for its acolytes. boothill had always favored the beat of his own two boots, extricated from concerning himself with other’s, they were fickle, often insufferable. perhaps this was his penitence, that he would satiate that god and her volatile fancies by putting her apostle down like a rabid dog. 

it was gaining on him, those angular legs ending in sharp, aquiline claws, were agile, even whilst scrabbling for purchase. boothill launches himself out from behind the crate just in time for it to be obliterated, wooden shrapnel launching in every direction, imbedding itself between the thick, lambent tubes that made up his nerves. he’s fortunate he doesn’t feel pain, less fortunate in now being certain that unless he thrusted his arm into the creature’s mouth and unloaded round after round directly into its cerebrum he was quite literally fucked. they size each other up, boothill’s arm rests by his thigh, where he has another gun loaded, each finger instinctively flexes, recognising how it would feel clasped in his hand. those incensed eyes, disarmingly emerald still, splinter off into slithers of him mirrored in its gaze, compelling him to stillness. there would be but one opportunity, if he missed, that was the end. if death existed still for something as incorporeal as him, then it waited resignedly at the other side of that solitary, stagnant moment. time surges up to meet him, it were as if all that suspended momentum was disgorged at once. the beast slams into him with all of its weight, jaws carving into his core, severing vital wires in a gnashing of teeth, simultaneously, he closes his finger on the trigger, firing four shots in rapid succession, puncturing the ridged flesh of its mouth over and over again. it seizes, its pupils withering in excruciating agony and then, just as suddenly, it goes limp.

boothill had thought about death fleetingly since he regained consciousness. without the burden of humanity, the penchant it had for aging, rotting, dying, he never once thought his consciousness would wane to a stuttering darkness clamped in the mouth of his beloved. ironic how things turned out, wasn’t it.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Tuesday, June 25, 2024

june 12_june 25

Third day of the Holy Trinity

THE MONK ARSENIUS OF KONEVSK (1447)

Saint Arsenius of Konevits was a native of Novgorod, a coppersmith by trade. The saint accepted tonsure at the Lisich monastery near Novgorod, where he spent eleven years. He went to Mount Athos in 1373, and there he spent three years, dwelling in prayer and making copper vessels for the brethren.

In the year 1393, Saint Arsenius returned to Russia and brought with him an icon of the Mother of God, which was later called the Konevits Icon. Saint Arsenius went with this icon to the island of Konevets on Lake Ladoga, where he spent five years in solitude.

In 1398, with the blessing of Archbishop John of Novgorod, Saint Arsenius laid the foundations of a cenobitic monastery dedicated to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. He visited Athos a second time, and asked the holy Fathers for their prayers and a blessing for his monastery.

In 1421, the lake flooded, destroying the monastery structures. This forced Saint Arsenius to relocate the monastery to a new site on the island. Saint Arsenius died in 1447 and was buried in the monastery church. Igumen Barlaam of Konevits wrote his life in the sixteenth century. The Life of Saint Arsenius was published in 1850 with the Service and Akathist in his honor.

THE MONK PETER OF ATHOS (734)

Saint Peter of Athos, a Greek by birth, served as a soldier in the imperial armies and he lived at Constantinople. In the year 667, during a war with the Syrians, Saint Peter was taken captive and locked up in a fortress in the city of Samara on the Euphrates River.

For a long time he languished in prison and he pondered over which of his sins had brought God’s chastisement upon him. Saint Peter remembered that once he had intended to leave the world and go to a monastery, but he had not done so. He began to observe a strict fast in the prison and to pray fervently, and he besought Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker to intercede before God for him.

Saint Nicholas appeared in a dream to Peter and advised him to call upon Saint Simeon the God-Receiver (Feb. 3) for help. Saint Nicholas appeared to him once more in a dream, encouraging the prisoner in patience and hope. The third time that he appeared it was not in a dream, but with Saint Simeon the God-Receiver. Saint Simeon touched his staff to the chains binding Saint Peter, and the chains melted away like wax. The doors of the prison opened, and Saint Peter was free.

Saint Simeon the God-Receiver became invisible, but Saint Nicholas conveyed Saint Peter to the borders of the Greek territory. Reminding him of his vow, Saint Nicholas became invisible. Saint Peter then journeyed to Rome to receive monastic tonsure at the tomb of the Apostle Peter. Even here Saint Nicholas did not leave him without his help. He appeared in a dream to the Pope of Rome and informed him of the circumstances of Saint Peter’s liberation from captivity, and he commanded the Pope to tonsure the former prisoner into monasticism.

On the following day, in the midst of a throng of the people who had gathered for divine services, the Pope loudly exclaimed, “Peter, you who are from the Greek lands, and whom Saint Nicholas has freed from prison in Samara, come here to me.” Saint Peter stood in front of the Pope, who tonsured him into monasticism at the tomb of the Apostle Peter. The Pope taught Saint Peter the rules of monastic life and kept the monk by him. Then with a blessing, he sent Saint Peter to where God had appointed him to journey.

Saint Peter boarded a ship sailing to the East. The shipowners, after going ashore, besought Saint Peter to come and pray at a certain house, where the owner and all the household lay sick. Saint Peter healed them through his prayer.

The Most Holy Theotokos appeared in a dream to Saint Peter and indicated the place where he should live til the very end of his days: Mount Athos. When the ship arrived at Athos, it then halted of its own accord. Saint Peter realized that this was the place he was meant to go, and so he went ashore. This was in the year 681. Peter then dwelt in the desolate places of the Holy Mountain, not seeing another person for fifty-three years. His clothing had become tattered, but his hair and beard had grown out and covered his body in place of clothes.

At first Saint Peter was repeatedly subjected to demonic assaults. Trying to force the saint to abandon his cave, the demons sometimes took on the form of armed soldiers, and at other times of fierce beasts and vipers that seemed ready to tear the hermit apart. Saint Peter overcame the demonic attacks through fervent prayer to God and His Holy Mother. Then the enemy resorted to trickery. Appearing under the guise of a lad sent to him from his native home, he besought the monk with tears to leave the wilderness and return to his own home. The saint wept, but without hesitation he answered, “Here have the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos led me. I will not leave here without Her permission.” Hearing the Name of the Mother of God, the demon vanished.

After seven years the devil came to Saint Peter in the guise of a radiant angel and said that God was commanding him to go into the world for the enlightenment and salvation of people in need of his guidance. The experienced ascetic again replied that without the permission of the Mother of God he would not forsake the wilderness. The devil disappeared and did not bother to come near the saint anymore. The Mother of God appeared to Saint Peter in a dream with Saint Nicholas and told the brave hermit that after he had fasted for forty days, an angel would bring him heavenly manna. Saint Peter fasted, and on the fortieth day he fortified himself with the heavenly manna, receiving the strength for another forty-day fast.

Once, a hunter chasing after a stag saw the naked man, covered with hair and girded about the loins with leaves. He was afraid and was about to flee, but Saint Peter stopped him and told him of his life. The hunter asked to remain with him, but the saint sent him home. Saint Peter gave the hunter a year for self-examination and forbade him to tell anyone about meeting him.

A year later the hunter returned with his brother, who was afflicted with a demon, and several other companions. When they entered the Saint Peter’s cave, they saw that he had already reposed. The hunter, with bitter tears, told his companions of the life of Saint Peter. His brother, after merely touching the saint’s body, received healing. Saint Peter died in the year 734. His holy relics were on Athos at the monastery of Saint Clement. During the Iconoclast period the relics were hidden away, and in the year 969 they were transferred to the Thracian village of Photokami.

Saint Peter once saw the Mother of God in a vision, and she spoke of Her earthly domain, Mount Athos: “I have chosen this mountain... and have received it from My Son and God as an inheritance, for those who wish to forsake worldly cares and strife.... Exceedingly do I love this place. I will aid those who come to dwell here and who labor for God... and keep His commandments.... I will lighten their afflictions and labors, and shall be an invincible ally for the monks, invisibly guiding and guarding them....”

Generations of Orthodox monks can attest to the truth of these words. The Mother of God is regarded as the Abbess of the Holy Mountain, not just in name, but in actual fact. For this reason, Mt. Athos is known as the “Garden of the Theotokos.”

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

ROMANS 1:1-7, 13-17

1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. 5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; 7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

13 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

MATTHEW 11:27-30

2 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

[fear-not-beloved]

Holy Thursday is not only the day of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in some ways draws it to itself. To Holy Thursday also belongs the dark night of the Mount of Olives, to which Jesus goes with his disciples; the solitude and abandonment of Jesus, who in prayer goes forth to encounter the darkness of death; the betrayal of Judas, Jesus’ arrest and his denial by Peter; his indictment before the Sanhedrin and his being handed over to the Gentiles, to Pilate. Let us try at this hour to understand more deeply something of these events, for in them the mystery of our redemption takes place.

Jesus goes forth into the night. Night signifies lack of communication, a situation where people do not see one another. It is a symbol of incomprehension, of the obscuring of truth. It is the place where evil, which has to hide before the light, can grow. Jesus himself is light and truth, communication, purity and goodness. He enters into the night. Night is ultimately a symbol of death, the definitive loss of fellowship and life. Jesus enters into the night in order to overcome it and to inaugurate the new Day of God in the history of humanity.

On the way, he sang with his Apostles Israel’s psalms of liberation and redemption, which evoked the first Passover in Egypt, the night of liberation. Now he goes, as was his custom, to pray in solitude and, as Son, to speak with the Father. But, unusually, he wants to have close to him three disciples: Peter, James and John. These are the three who had experienced his Transfiguration – when the light of God’s glory shone through his human figure – and had seen him standing between the Law and the Prophets, between Moses and Elijah. They had heard him speaking to both of them about his “exodus” to Jerusalem. Jesus’ exodus to Jerusalem – how mysterious are these words! Israel’s exodus from Egypt had been the event of escape and liberation for God’s People. What would be the form taken by the exodus of Jesus, in whom the meaning of that historic drama was to be definitively fulfilled? The disciples were now witnessing the first stage of that exodus – the utter abasement which was nonetheless the essential step of the going forth to the freedom and new life which was the goal of the exodus. The disciples, whom Jesus wanted to have close to him as an element of human support in that hour of extreme distress, quickly fell asleep. Yet they heard some fragments of the words of Jesus’ prayer and they witnessed his way of acting. Both were deeply impressed on their hearts and they transmitted them to Christians for all time. Jesus called God “Abba”. The word means – as they add – “Father”. Yet it is not the usual form of the word “father”, but rather a children’s word – an affectionate name which one would not have dared to use in speaking to God. It is the language of the one who is truly a “child”, the Son of the Father, the one who is conscious of being in communion with God, in deepest union with him.

If we ask ourselves what is most characteristic of the figure of Jesus in the Gospels, we have to say that it is his relationship with God. He is constantly in communion with God. Being with the Father is the core of his personality. Through Christ we know God truly. “No one has ever seen God”, says Saint John. The one “who is close to the Father’s heart … has made him known” (1:18). Now we know God as he truly is. He is Father, and this in an absolute goodness to which we can entrust ourselves. The evangelist Mark, who has preserved the memories of Saint Peter, relates that Jesus, after calling God “Abba”, went on to say: “Everything is possible for you. You can do all things” (cf. 14:36). The one who is Goodness is at the same time Power; he is all-powerful. Power is goodness and goodness is power. We can learn this trust from Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives.

Before reflecting on the content of Jesus’ petition, we must still consider what the evangelists tell us about Jesus’ posture during his prayer. Matthew and Mark tell us that he “threw himself on the ground” (Mt 26:39; cf. Mk 14:35), thus assuming a posture of complete submission, as is preserved in the Roman liturgy of Good Friday. Luke, on the other hand, tells us that Jesus prayed on his knees. In the Acts of the Apostles, he speaks of the saints praying on their knees: Stephen during his stoning, Peter at the raising of someone who had died, Paul on his way to martyrdom. In this way Luke has sketched a brief history of prayer on one’s knees in the early Church. Christians, in kneeling, enter into Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives. When menaced by the power of evil, as they kneel, they are upright before the world, while as sons and daughters, they kneel before the Father. Before God’s glory we Christians kneel and acknowledge his divinity; by this posture we also express our confidence that he will prevail.

Jesus struggles with the Father. He struggles with himself. And he struggles for us. He experiences anguish before the power of death. First and foremost this is simply the dread natural to every living creature in the face of death. In Jesus, however, something more is at work. His gaze peers deeper, into the nights of evil. He sees the filthy flood of all the lies and all the disgrace which he will encounter in that chalice from which he must drink. His is the dread of one who is completely pure and holy as he sees the entire flood of this world’s evil bursting upon him. He also sees me, and he prays for me. This moment of Jesus’ mortal anguish is thus an essential part of the process of redemption. Consequently, the Letter to the Hebrews describes the struggle of Jesus on the Mount of Olives as a priestly event. In this prayer of Jesus, pervaded by mortal anguish, the Lord performs the office of a priest: he takes upon himself the sins of humanity, of us all, and he brings us before the Father.

Lastly, we must also pay attention to the content of Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives. Jesus says: “Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want” (Mk 14:36). The natural will of the man Jesus recoils in fear before the enormity of the matter. He asks to be spared. Yet as the Son, he places this human will into the Father’s will: not I, but you. In this way he transformed the stance of Adam, the primordial human sin, and thus heals humanity. The stance of Adam was: not what you, O God, have desired; rather, I myself want to be a god. This pride is the real essence of sin. We think we are free and truly ourselves only if we follow our own will. God appears as the opposite of our freedom. We need to be free of him – so we think – and only then will we be free. This is the fundamental rebellion present throughout history and the fundamental lie which perverts life. When human beings set themselves against God, they set themselves against the truth of their own being and consequently do not become free, but alienated from themselves. We are free only if we stand in the truth of our being, if we are united to God. Then we become truly “like God” – not by resisting God, eliminating him, or denying him. In his anguished prayer on the Mount of Olives, Jesus resolved the false opposition between obedience and freedom, and opened the path to freedom. Let us ask the Lord to draw us into this “yes” to God’s will, and in this way to make us truly free. Amen.

Benedict xvi

[lesdeuxmuses]

Apostle Of Solitude - Last Sunrise (Eyes Like Snow, 2010)

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS The Doctor of the Church and Mystical Doctor Who is the Patron of Contemplative Life Feast Day: December 14

"Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent."

John of the Cross, who is the co-founder of the reformed Carmelites (Discalced Carmelites), was born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez in Fontiveros, Ávila, Crown of Castile (Spain), on June 24, 1542.

At the age of 21, he entered the Carmelites at Medina, taking the religious name of John of St. Matthias. He frequently asked God, that he might not pass one day of his life without suffering something. After his ordination in 1567, he was granted permission to follow the original rule of Rule of Saint Albert, which stressed strict discipline and solitude. In 1568, together with St. Teresa of Ávila (Teresa of Jesus), he opened the first monastery of the newly reformed Discalced (barefoot) Carmelites, whose members were committed to a perfect spirit of solitude, humility and mortification.

On the night of December 2, 1577, John's monastic reform fomented the anger of some old Carmelites, who accused him of rebellion and had him arrested. It was in prison that he began to compose some of his finest works, like the 'Cántico Espiritual (The Spiritual Canticle)' and 'The Living Flame of Love'.

In 'The Dark Night of the Soul (La Noche Oscura del Alma)', John wrote: 'It is impossible to reach the riches and wisdom of God, except by first entering many sufferings.'

One time, John corrected a certain Fr. Diego who used to disregard the rule. This wicked religious, rather than repent, went about over the whole province trumping up accusations against the saint. Thus, John was transferred to a remote friary at Úbeda, Kingdom of Jaén, Crown of Castile, where he died due to erysipelas (a bacterial skin infection) at the age of 49.

John of the Cross is canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on the feast of St. John the Apostle on December 27, 1726 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1926 by Pope Pius XI after the definitive consultation of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange O.P., professor of philosophy and theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome. His major shrine can be found in Segovia.

[dprcailimait]

Iridescence (WIP)

I've been getting my ramblings together and as thus far. I have a solid idea of where to take my ideas.

TL;DR

Currently outlining a Berserk retelling spanning from the Golden Age Arc to Fantasia, focused on an AU where Griffith forcefully turns Guts into an immortal (Apostle).

For a frame of reference, I read the first chapter of the golden age arc, and this quote just summarizes perfectly what I want out of a Griffith/Guts post-Eclipse retelling. When I say retelling, I really mean a twisted, dark romance. They're fucked up courtship, where with every exchange, they mend a little piece of themselves they never dared bring up to anyone else.

Exploring Griffith’s psyche fascinates him, I’m debating where exactly in the Golden Age arc to start because I want to drill in the dread of loneliness into him. It’s gonna be subtle at first, but nonetheless there. I think it’d add on to the angst sandwich I want to make with this fic. Not just that but making Guts and Griffith blossoming lovers, not outwardly either to themselves or others but a blurred mix of the two.

I fleshed out my idea a little more clearly. Some plot points are very much lost in the word soup that is this fic lol.

Main Idea:

The turning point, where Griffith will turn Guts into an immortal, will be after they have fought.

Guts' primary motivation— his dream, and life’s purpose is Casca. He does not lose her, but he's trying to be a man worthy of Casca’s devotion. He needs to control his urge to chase Griffith, to not give into temptation but his inner demon coaxes his psyche into passivity— making him fall prey into thoughts, nightmare. Estranged lucid fantasies of his former commander.

It whispers of possibilities that ring bloody and sour to his sanity, but with the rusted aches comes an emotion rivaling even the sweetest kiss from his lover. And that terrifies him beyond all reason.

Guts dies while fighting Griffith, an entity he should know better than to challenge.

He knows defeat but the bitterness of an impending death comfortably sits on his tongue, soothing a pavlovian response in him to tear and thrash and glaze, endlessly enamored as a quick, seamless slash breaks his skin, muscles and bone.

The horrid, white-sear leaves him breathless— without the strength nor mind to scream or is it the sight before him. One of Griffith, his face ghosted with a smile he’s only known in far-off memories of a time long before his maturity. He’d be a fool to be scared of death but he’d be a liar to say it doesn’t cause him fright, losing Casca and the potential of being with her scares him,

But for now, for this singular moment of agony, he smiles. His mind wonders, fruitful in its fantasies and nightmares and for once, aimless in his struggle, he finds peace— as if being nurtured by the embrace of a mother, he’s satisfied. Seeing a glimpse, a crack in Griffith’s armor, lulls him.

While clashing, the past's excitement rekindles inside Griffith. His heart beats at his ears, singing of a long tattered wound. A scar left known in a far-off time beyond his conscious psyche, a deep seeded loneliness remembrance only pray tell him. The very one that clung to the man stumbling before him.

Then and there in the brief moment of their swords play, Griffith's blood runs cold as he watches the man he once grew to love and hate smile at him. His composure collapses with Guts’ dying breath, and, for the first time, in his immortal life, he processes the depths of his solitude.

In that moment, Griffith ruins his former friend once more by giving him the very thing he swore to take, his life.

[santmat]

From Darkness to Light Through Meditation - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

On the web you'll find a lot of talk about spirituality, yet so few rise above body-consciousness and get to experience that Sacred Inner Space for themselves. Reliable information is quite rare. There's so much discussion about "gnostics", "mystics", "sages of philosophy", "masters of the east", or "ancient scriptures" but almost nothing is ever said about the spiritual practices of these gnostics and mystics of the ages. Only with a Living Mystic Path, a Living School of Spirituality is one close to the Inner Circle of Masters and Students where this sort of Divine Path can be made knowable to the genuine spiritual seeker by way of Initiation into the Mysteries.

Today, an introduction to meditation for beginners that also provides a glimpse into the world of advanced practice, inner Light and Sound, the path of the masters, East and West, in the various schools of spirituality. "Darkness is no longer dark to me." "There is a Sound emanating from beyond the silence." (Spiritual masters allude to transcendental heavenly senses, eyes and ears of the soul able to see and hear spiritually.)

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“It is impossible to confine love to the temporal and transient levels of life, and it is impossible to confine the grandeur and majesty of God to the dimensions of the mind... I had no fixed starting place in time and space, for I dwelt in a multi-verse that was co-extensive with all the ages. But my inner world was still limited by the boundaries of creation; I needed the guidance of a spiritual adept, within the physical world itself, to give me new birth into the freedom of eternity.” (George Arnsby Jones, disciple of Master Kirpal, author of, An Odyssey of Inner Space)

"Light is always within us. When the mind is settled, we see that Light." (Sant Kirpal Singh, unpublished book on Sant Mat meditation)

References, Subjects, and Sources Include: passages about solitude, silence, and meditation from: 1) Thomas Merton, 2) Caroline Stephen, The Lord of Silence (a Quaker publication), 3) Thomas Kelly; 4) Saint Thomas - the Apostle to India; 5) The Gnostic Nag Hammadi Library: Apocryphon of John, Book of Allogenes, Trimorphic Protennoia, and Thunder: Perfect Mind; 6) The Book of Enoch, 7) Hebrew Bible: Psalm 46: 10 ("Be still and know that I Am God."); 8) The Acts of Peter; 9) The Jesus Sutras of China; 10) Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu; 11) Swamiji Maharaj from the Sar Bachan Radhasoami Poetry - also shared here: "Meditate: Sit still and you will reach your destination. Walk fast and you will go nowhere." 12) Introductory Meditation Instructions, a Convenient Method from Huzur Baba Sawan Singh; 13) Introductory Meditation Instructions from Sant Kirpal Singh (finding Jyoti or Inner Light at the Third Eye); 14) Guidance about Meditation Practice from: A Spiritual Seekers Guide (on how Love/Bhakti is the Key); 15) Maharshi Mehi Paramhans and Shri Bhagirath Baba (Seven Stages of Meditation described in, The Philosophy of Liberation, on correct posture, Brahma-Muhurta/The Hour of Elixir, Thrice-Daily Meditation, Meditation and the Dreamstate); 16) Couplets of Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj; 17) Swami Achyutanand Baba (Yoga of Inner Light & Sound); and, 18) Huzur Maharaj Rai Saligram: The Gospel of Sant Mat in a Nutshell: The River of Sound That Connects Souls to the Ocean of Love (God). (Prem Patra Radhaswami)

In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami,

James Bean

Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

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A Satsang Without Walls

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