Soul Aflame!

[knightofalbion]

This thread is for inspirational quotations, poems and short stories.

If there is something that has touched your soul, led you to a higher path or given you strength in a time of adversity, then please add it here.

If it has helped you, then the chances are it will help others too. And to help each other along is the calling of every soul.

Into the light!

 

[knightofalbion]

All this talk of religion, but it's how you live your life that is the all-important thing.

If you set out each day to do all the goodness and kindness that you can, and to do no harm to man or beast, then you are walking the highest path.

And when your time is up, if you can leave the earth a better place than you found it, then yours will have been a life well lived.

 

[knightofalbion]

Invictus

by

William Ernest Henley


Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced, nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

 

[knightofalbion]

Is there anyone upon the earth who is glad that you have lived?

(From 'The Shining Paths' by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki)

 

[Cookie]

DESIDERATA​

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.​

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.​

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.​

Be yourself :heart:.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.​

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.​

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.​

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.​

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.​

~Max Ehrmann~​

 

[BigAl]

ALWAYS
Think pleasant thoughts
Say pleasant things
And the world will reward you

 

[knightofalbion]

So many gods, so many creeds
So many paths that wind and wind
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

 

[kind2creatures]

~Life~

~ Life ~

Life is hard to those who struggle
And times never seem to fly
No-one smiles unless they choose to
Did you ever ask them why?

Days go by and before you know it
Another month has passed
I wonder how many are collecting memories
Or do they all still live in the past?

Circumstances always changing
Tears dancing within our eyes
I wonder did they see it coming
Or was it the ultimate surprise?

Seconds go by and minutes pass
Bad times do come and go
But we know not to fear forever
For good times also show.

Life's a journey of understanding
But there's some who forget to breathe
With love and hope could you remind them?
Before they're leaving us to grieve.

Reach out and touch and embrace your life
Awaken and capture each moment
Move forth, have faith and banish your fear
Continue to find your own smile if it's absent.

© Silent Whispers
_________________
Blessings,

Silent Whispers.

(from onebigcircle)
https://www.onebigcircle.org

 

[knightofalbion]

Here we are, here and now. This is our big moment in time. So let us try and do something - something good, something beautiful - with the precious years allotted to us.

 

[knightofalbion]

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will
- Edward Everett Hale

 

[knightofalbion]

Starfish

A well known author and poet was working and vacationing on the southern coast of Spain.
One morning very early, he was walking along the beach; the sun was just rising. While enjoying the beauty about him, he glanced down the beach and saw a lone figure dancing about.
Fascinated by this other person celebrating the day that was about to dawn, he moved closer. As he came nearer, he realized that the young man was not dancing, but in one graceful movement was picking objects up from the beach and tossing them out into the sea. As he approached the young man, he saw that the objects were starfish.
"Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?"
"If the starfish are still on tbe beach when the tide goes out and the sun rises higher in the sky, they will die", replied the young man as he continued tossing them out to the sea.
"That's ridiculous! There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can't believe that what you are doing could possibly make a difference!"
The young man picked up another starfish, paused thoughtfully and remarked as he tossed it out into the waves, "It makes a difference to this one."
- Loren Eisley

 

[knightofalbion]

Kinship

I am the voice of the voiceless;
Through me the dumb shall speak,
Till the deaf world's ear be made to hear
The wrongs of the wordless weak.

From street, from cage and from kennel,
From stable and zoo, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail.

Oh, shame on the mothers of mortals
Who have not stooped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.

The same force formed the sparrow
That fashioned man the king;
The God of the whole gave a spark of soul
To furred and to feathered thing.

And I am my brother's keeper,
And I will fight his fight,
And speak the word for beast and bird
Till the world shall set things right

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

 

[kind2creatures]

The most beautiful things in the world are not seen nor touched. They are felt with the heart.
~Helen Keller~

 

[knightofalbion]

Roses in your heart

Harry Wheatcroft, probably the most celebrated rose grower says, "He who would grow good roses, must have roses in his heart".
And he is a pacifist. "I deplore beyond all measure the thousands of millions spent to create implements to destroy mankind. With all that money everybody in the world could grow roses. The world could be made so beautiful, if only people..."
Yes, if only people had roses in their hearts, there would be no more wars, no more misery, just beauty and goodness
- Al Koran (From 'Bring Out The Magic In Your Mind')

 

[knightofalbion]

One does not need to be a psychic to see God in the petal of a rose - Peggy Mason

 

[Cookie]

CIRCLE WISDOM​

I invite you to enter for a moment
into Sacred Time and Space,
into a way of seeing that is broad and spacious.
See this Day, from the time you arose this morning
until you sleep this evening, as one Ceremony,
divided into small and familiar rituals,
your Heart as the Altar.
You, part of the Cycles of Light and Darkness.
Now begin to see your Life,
from the moment of your Conception
until the time of your Death
as one long, continuous Ceremony,
filled with many rituals,
some familiar, some unknown and challenging.
Your Home and all Your Relations, the Altar.
You, part of many Seasons and Cycles.
Now see this Ceremony of your Life
as part of a much larger Ceremony that extends
Seven Generations into the Past and Seven into the Future,
made up of many Births and Deaths.
This beautiful spinning Earth the Altar.
You, part of the great Ebb and Flow.
Now, if You will, imagine this larger Ceremony
to be but one part of a Ceremony so grand,
so magnificent as to be hardly comprehensible,
a great, vast Ceremonial Circle, rich and vibrant
with millions upon millions of swirling
Circles of Dancing Light,
and You, one of those Dancing Circles,
a Dancer on the Altar that is the Universe,
where Time is Eternal.
May You Dance In Beauty.​

~Sedonia Cahill~​

 

[knightofalbion]

The Human Family

All people are brothers and sisters, irrespective of colour, race or creed. Therefore, if anyone, anywhere in the world, is suffering or in distress, it concerns you, it concerns me, it concerns us all.

 

[knightofalbion]

We are all parts of the Great White Spirit. Some He has painted red, some black, some yellow and some He has not painted at all. But all these colours are part of His scheme.
There will not be any peace in your world until all these colours blend together, until men learn not to look at the skins, but at the souls that are behind them
- Silver Birch

 

[knightofalbion]

Let there be peace on earth - and let it begin with me -- White Eagle

 

[knightofalbion]

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

[knightofalbion]

The most beautiful attribute is a kind and loving heart

 

[knightofalbion]

Perceive the wonderful:

The other day, walking along Westminster Embankment, I picked up a little stone or pebble, that had perhaps fallen from some passing lorry carrying a load of gravel.
It was so smooth and beautiful with its strange markings, that I slipped it into my pocket.
I have carried it about ever since, bringing it out at odd moments to look at it and meditate upon its mystery
- Krishnamurti

 

[knightofalbion]

Message from the stars:

I stood at eventime. The never-ending plain
All empty looked and void. Yet, as I gazed again
An army bivouacked. Unnumbered points of light
Bespoke a force Supreme - invincible for right
- Henry Morley

 

[Cookie]

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.​

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~​

 

[knightofalbion]

The power of small

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around
- Leo Buscaglia