It is my intention to create a year’s series of daily reflections. It is likely that this will be a two-year project given the time to produce a single upload of such reflections.

I intend to produce videos with a lot of these reflections that will help promote them further afield.

I try to keep these daily spiritual reflections to less than three minutes. Below each reflection I will add various Toggles. This will add additional material that you can explore.

Let me say this. None of these invitations will make much difference if you do not establish a daily practice of learning to commune with the Divine within.

These reflections fulfil a deep heart’s core wish. This is the wish from the mystic poet Hafiz who says.

I wish that when you are lonely and in darkness that I could show you the magnificence of the light of your own being.—Hafiz.

Hafiz KNOWS, like all mystics KNOW that you cannot teach REAL spirituality. The best you can do, the best that I can do, is to teach you to unfurl your own sail. (Richard Rohr).

Here is the full rendition of Warm Love by Van Morrison together with the lyrics.

The song Warm Love is about SEEING the way that mystics see. This is a learned way of SEEING. You become a SEER.  A seer of beauty.  Here is one of my favorite books about the journey into learning to SEE.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Naked-Now-Learning-See-Mystics/dp/0824525434

NOTE – While the blurb states that this is for Christians seeking a way of thinking outside strict dualities I see it as an invite to learning to allow yourself to be thought through and to see with the eye of Presence.

For Christians seeking a way of thinking outside of strict dualities, this guide explores methods for letting go of division and living in the present. Drawn from the Gospels, Jesus, Paul, and the great Christian contemplatives, this examination reveals how many of the hidden truths of Christianity have been misunderstood or lost and how to read them with the eyes of the mystics rather than interpreting them through rational thought. Filled with sayings, stories, quotations, and appeals to the heart, specific methods for identifying dualistic thinking are presented with simple practices for stripping away ego and the fear of dwelling in the present.

Here is the full rendition of this song as read by myself from the CD The Yeat’s Experience – Learning and Listening from the Deep Heart’s Core.

Reflections on the poem The Song of Wandering Anegus by W. B. Yeats

The symbol of the heart chakra – the bridge between the personal and the universal is a star.  I share with you the chapter related to this shape as written about in my book Awakening the Heart – 21 Ways to Follow Love’s Message.

The Shape

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering. – St. Augustine

Each chakra has associated with it a symbolic shape. These shapes are not simply arbitrary shapes but archetypal shapes. An archetype is a recurring pattern of character, symbol, or situation found in the mythology, religion, and stories of all cultures. The shape associated with the heart chakra is that of a six-pointed geometric star. It is the compound of two equilateral triangles.

This six-pointed star is created by the intersection of an equilateral triangle pointing upward and another pointing downward. The upward pointing triangle represents the power of the masculine and the downward pointing triangle the power of the feminine.

Within the heart chakra these two forces meet and support each other. Within the second chakra, also known as the sacral chakra, these two forces are found in opposition. This polar opposition is what we normally understand as relationship. Alignment of these two energies within the heart chakra brings peace of heart and mind. It is the opinion of this writer that the masculine dynamic is required to serve the feminine dynamic. This is not because the feminine is better than the masculine but the feminine is more evolved. All human beings start out as being feminine in utero.

You are star potential. You have within you these two forces of Creation. In different traditions they are given different names such as Yin and Yang or Shakti and Shiva. The driving force in the world at present is the masculine will to power. The will to power has brought us to a time of radical change and almost to the brink of ecological disaster. As a species we are close to the edge. This tumultuous period we are living in is a time of transition.

It is a time of twixt and in between. The old paradigm that is the will to power cannot solve our present crisis. Only the new paradigm of the will to Love will take us beyond chaos. Only through discipline, commitment and practice by significant numbers of individuals will we provide the energy to tip the balance in favour of a new way of being in the world.

This is the willingness of enough individuals to become servants of Love, not as believers, but as people willing to enter the unknown and allow what is as yet unknown to be birthed through them into this world of form. This would manifest new forms of institutions and government that are truly for the people by the people. Such individuals are those willing to trust the power of the feminine to have their masculine energy live in service to Love.

In the media there is a presently a great number of programs such as The X Factor, Britain has Talent, American Idol and others. These programs invite individuals to become stars. This is a great invitation but tends to overlook the holy nature of such an invitation. Real celebrity is rooted in the word celebration which relates to that which is celestial. Television programs tend to focus on celebrity as an aspect of the personality rather than on talent given as a gift to express in the world for the highest good of all. The individual who is able to share their talents in this way is truly celebratory.

A star produces light. The star symbol of the heart chakra represents the light of the Divine. The true celebrity allows the radiance of their divine expression to light up their personality. This energy is the true X Factor because it is the felt experience of union. It is the experience of allowing one’s birthing ability (feminine power) to be expressed in form (masculine manifestation).

The word celebrate means “to frequent or to honour.” What you begin to frequent is your unique frequency. This frequency is you as a unique expression of Universal Sound. To the degree you honour this unique sound is the degree to which you feel whole-hearted.

This frequency comes from the One Life. This is the One Life that is the birthless and deathless vibration out of which all that is manifested into form arises. This frequency manifests itself as elemental particles from which matter is created. The balancing of the heart chakra invites you to be aligned with this primal vibration. The Sanskrit word for the heart chakra is Anahata which means ‘unbeaten.’ Sound is usually made by contact with some form be it a drum or a cymbal.

This unbeaten sound is the primal vibration. It is the sound from which you resonate and are being created in each moment. This makes you a resounding success beyond any idea of success or failure. This is indeed a cause for celebration. You are not here to be judged a winner or loser. This sound creates you as a win-win situation for all because it is the eternal sound of Love that informs all things including you and most especially you.

You are a part of this eternal sound but never apart from it. When the heart chakra is balanced you become a willing co-creator with the flow of Creation. Within this flow true celebrity and celebration is found. You find within the star quality and resonance unique to you. Frequent your unique vibration and become at one with the Universal as it expresses through you. This will be your true stardom and your true delight.

Loving the Invitation-The Shape

The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one’s self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course. ~ Michelangelo

The Bitble declares you to be made in the image of God. As God is Love you are, therefore, created from Love’s imagination. This is the invisible and eternal force that creates all forms from the dimension of formless.

You have a starring role in Love’s forever becoming. You are that important. You are not even required to prove yourself worthy. Because you are here means you are already worthy enough. Our deepest fear really is that we are not worthy of Love and this is the very barrier that keeps us from living Love’s Message that is our birth right to enjoy.

To open the heart chakra you need to be faithful to the magnificence of Love. The great Islamic mystic and poet Jellaluddin Rumi invites us to risk all for love. It truly is a risk. Nothing is guaranteed except that you cannot fall out of Love’s embrace. The real risk is in our forgetting and not feeling the connection. The heart is an organ of trust. It is designed to feel and connect with the Beloved within you. Your work in following Love’s Message is to trust the universal as it speaks through you. It designed you to share its message of Love in a unique way. Be willing to get out of the way and say, “Yes!”

Begin each day with a heartfelt intention to trust the highest good within you to be expressed through you. Write this intention in a journal and toward the end of each day reflect on how you have paid attention to such intention. Do not judge yourself. Simply, allow this to be a practice of inviting insight.

In this journal don’t simply pay attention to what you think. Pay attention to what you feel. Sometimes you may feel that you are taking a couple steps backwards and then a baby step forward. This is the energy associated with the lower chakras being brought into conscious awareness. During such a period pay attention to your breathing and to the images that come to mind. Get still and simply practice trusting the silence of the heart.

Out of this silence arises the heart’s light to guide you in the way of Love. Over time you will feel this starlight within brighten your day as you shine the love light you are into this world of form. You will feel in ‘great shape.’ The union of the masculine and feminine is represented by the union of two triangles that form a six pointed star. You will become the marriage of the polarity of masculine and feminine within and you attain peace of mind and heart.

The magic of the Nowhere Man (or woman) is that they are present to the NOW HERE.

I am always on the lookout for heart songs.  Here is one that I recently discovered and love to share with others. I sometimes listen to this on listenonrepeat.com and simply click the replay button.

Let this beautiful song be a reminder to let your light shine.

Alexi Murdoch – Something Beautiful

May the Grace of God be with you always, in your heart
May you know the truth inside you from the start
May you find the strength to know that you are a
Part of something beautiful…

And I thought that I saw, a light Shine, I thought that I saw a light shine
Yes, I thought, that I saw, a light Shine; I think I see a light shine, now…

May the Grace of God be with you always, in your heart
May you know the truth inside you from the start
May you find the strength to know that you are a
Part of something beautiful…

May the Grace of God be with you always, in your heart
May you know the truth inside you from the start
May you find the strength to know that you are a
Part of something beautiful…

And I thought that I saw, a light Shine, I thought that I saw a light shine
Yes, I thought, that I saw, a light Shine; I thought that I saw a light shine
Yes, I thought, that I saw, a light Shine; I thought that I saw a light shine
Yes, I thought, that I saw, a light Shine; I thought that I saw a light shine
Yes, I thought, that I saw, a light Shine; I think I see a light shine… now

From the corner of my eye I thought I saw a light shine
From the corner of my eye I thought I saw a light shine

And I thought that I saw, a light shine, I thought that I saw, a light shine
Yes, I thought, that I saw, a light Shine; I thought I saw a light shine now
(From the corner of my eye I thought I saw a light shine
From the corner of my eye I thought I saw a light shine)
And I thought, than I saw, a light shine, I thought that I saw, a light shine
Yes, I thought, that I saw, a light Shine; I think I see a light shine now

May the Grace of God be with you always, in your heart
May you know the truth inside you from the start
May you find the strength to know that you are a
Part of something beautiful

Here is a lovely poem by Norman MacCaig on the paradoxical power of the emptiness that if forever full.

PRESENTS
Norman MacCaig

I give you an emptiness,
I give you a plenitude,
unwrap them carefully –
one’s as fragile as the other –
and when you thank me
I’ll pretend not to notice the doubt in your voice
when you say they’re just what you wanted.

Put them on the table by your bed.
When you wake in the morning
they’ll have gone through the door of sleep
into your head. Wherever you go
they’ll go with you and
wherever you are you’ll wonder,
smiling about the fullness
you can’t add to and the emptiness
that you can fill.

This is just such a wonderful reciting of this beautiful poem by Liam Clancy.  Enjoy.

Pegasus
by Patrick Kavanagh

My soul was an old horse
Offered for sale in twenty fairs.
I offered him to the Church–the buyers
Were little men who feared his unusual airs.
One said: ‘Let him remain unbid
In the wind and rain and hunger
Of sin and we will get him–
With the winkers thrown in–for nothing.’

Then the men of State looked at
What I’d brought for sale.
One minister, wondering if
Another horse-body would fit the tail
That he’d kept for sentimentThe relic of his own soul–
Said, ‘I will graze him in lieu of his labour.’
I lent him for a week or more
And he came back a hurdle of bones,
Starved, overworked, in despair.
I nursed him on the roadside grass
To shape him for another fair.

I lowered my price. I stood him where
The broken-winded, spavined stand
And crooked shopkeepers said that he
Might do a season on the land–
But not for high-paid work in towns.
He’d do a tinker, possibly.
I begged, ‘O make some offer now,
A soul is a poor man’s tragedy.
He’ll draw your dungiest cart,’ I said,
‘Show you short cuts to Mass,
Teach weather lore, at night collect
Bad debts from poor men’s grass.’
And they would not.

Where the
Tinkers quarrel I went down
With my horse, my soul.
I cried, ‘Who will bid me half a crown?’
From their rowdy bargaining
Not one turned.

‘Soul,’ I prayed,
‘I have hawked you through the world
Of Church and State and meanest trade.
But this evening, halter off,
Never again will it go on.
On the south side of ditches
There is grazing of the sun.
No more haggling with the world….’
As I said these words he grew
Wings upon his back. Now I may ride him
Every land my imagination knew.