The Joy of Inspiration
"As the process of Embodiment has deepened in me, so has my gratitude for the inspiration I find in the great sacred texts of all traditions, in mystical poetry, and in all the arts, especially music. In Rumi's poetry I hear the voice of God; in Bach's music I hear the intricate harmonies of the Dance of Opposites in the One. Without mystical, artistic, cultural inspiration, it is hard to remain infused with purposeful joy, and I urge all activists to find in the beauty of the arts a reflection of that Beauty that creates the universe and so is the ultimate source of all truly sacred action.
The Joy of Being in Nature
"In these last years, my love of every aspect of Nature has become both more intense and more tender. When I am inwardly turned to the Beloved, all of Nature is revealed as radiant with the Presence; every stone and flea and squirrel and human being and the whole of Nature appears as a ceaselessly flowing epiphany of the Radiance. 'Adore and love Him,' Rumi writes, 'and He will reveal to you that everything is a drop from His river of infinite splendor.'
The Joy of Sacred Friendship
"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes several villages of wise, tender, compassionate experts to midwife a Birth. As I go farther on my own Path, the holiness of my deepest friendships and the joy they initiate me into becomes ever more vivid to me. The work I have begun to do on my own shadow has enriched my knowledge and love of my friends and deepened my compassion for them, which only increases my admiration for the resources and dignity they bring to their own struggles.
"Coming to experience and celebrate the holiness of sacred friendship and to be grateful for the wisdom of your friends increases your faith in life and your capacity for skillful action. Coming to savor the tenderness of the Friend expressing itself through all the many kinds of friendship in life brings you, by degrees, into the secret unity of life in the Mercy of the One.
"I used to make the mistake of thinking that friendship had to take second place to my work. Now I realize that was part of both my mystic and my activist shadow, and I understand that the joy friendship brings me is the clue to doing my work as an act of friendship toward all beings. As I experience the Joy of the Friendship of the One through all the many joys of human friendship, my innate friendliness toward all beings becomes more confident and generous and suffuses the work I do with its warm light.
The Joy of Sacred Friendship with Animals
"Purrball, the cat that I lived with for two years during my marriage, changed my life. Her love for me and my love for her came with the force of a revelation. I had never imagined that an animal could be capable of such heights of devotion or that I would find in my heart such depths of abandoned tenderness for a small tortoiseshell tabby, wobbly on her legs. It was a holy love on both sides, and it opened me to the possibilities that the Birth of the Divine Human offers us for a wholly new level of communion with animals. This communion is essential to their and our survival; it is also the source of a wonder and a joy in creation that makes you long to do everything you can to protect life in all its forms.
All animal lovers know this joy and know it as one of the wonders of life. In the name of this joy, and with this joy, we must all now call out to the human race to stop its barbaric treatment of animals, not only because it is wrong in itself, but also because it prevents us from communing with them as sacred relations and from learning their lessons of love and loyalty, harmony with nature, and serenity before life and death. The hope in our best selves that streams to us from the eyes of every respected and well-treated animal is a hope we cannot afford to do without."
