Those who mean well themselves think well of others by WILLIAM HAZLITT

Thus it has always been.Those who mean well themselves think well of others, and fall a prey to their security. That humanity and sincerity which dispose men to resist injustice and tyranny render them unfit to cope with the cunning and power of those who are opposed to them. The friends of liberty trust to the professions of others because they are themselves sincere, and endeavour to secure the public good with the least possible hurt to its enemies, who have no regard to anything but their own unprincipled ends, and stick at nothing to accomplish them.
WILLIAM HAZLITT, Characters of Shakespeare's Plays

Then Let Me Go to Nature by Mary Jean Irion

Then Let Me Go to Nature
Mary Jean Irion
from “Yes, World: A Mosaic of Meditation”

Then let me go to nature as I came from nature
to the great cycles of creativity that I have dimly, so dimly,
understood . . .

When you commit my ashes to the ground . . .commit them!
For then one cycle of individual life will be over,
and a unit of nature will be separated into its minute parts
for participation in new ways,
as atoms rearrange in the mysterious slow seething of the world.

Just as I have come from infinity, so I return to infinity,
between which events, for a little time, I came to celebrate
that miracle which I could never fathom.

Therefore, when it is time . . . yield me dying,
yield me dead in this tradition-
-earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust–
in sure and certain hope that the dust which bloomed briefly
in my loving will bloom again, bloom again in the renewal of species,

each meaning according to its kind with not even a single day of the mayfly
scorned; that this dust will bloom again and again and always again
until the seas run dry and the mountains disappear.

Thoughts that are light by Joseph Joubert

Thoughts that are light, clear, distinct, finished; and words that
resemble their thoughts.Words that often retain their meaning even
when they are detached from others and that please when isolated as sounds.

Thoughts that cannot survive the open air and that evaporate
as soon as we take them out of the room. To put them to the test
of isolation. Take them out of the book where you found them,
they do not endure.

Ideas never lack for words. It is words that lack ideas.
As soon as the idea has come to its last degree of perfection,
the word blossoms; or, if you like, it blossoms from the word
that presents it and clothes it.
Joseph Joubert

The wanderings of your imagination by François Fénelon

Be not troubled by the wanderings of your imagination which you cannot
restrain. How often do we wander through the fear of wandering and
the regret that we have done so. What would you say of a traveler who,
instead of constantly advancing in his journey, should employ his time
in anticipating the falls he might suffer, or in weeping over the place
where one had happened?
François Fénelon

Selected Poetry and Quotes of Antonio Machado:On Meditation,Spirituality & philosophical reflections/Wanderer***Has my heart gone to sleep?***Last night I had a dream…

Music:
Monti Csardas-Katica Illenyi

Is my soul asleep?
Antonio Machado

Has my heart gone to sleep?
Have the beehives of my dreams stopped working,
the waterwheel of the mind run dry,
scoops turning empty, only shadow inside?

No, my heart is not asleep. It is awake, wide awake.
Not asleep, not dreaming— its eyes are opened wide
watching distant signals, listening on the rim of vast silence.

Wanderer
Antonio Machado

Wanderer, your footsteps are
the path, and nothing else;
wanderer, there is no path,
the path is made by walking.

Walking makes the path,
and on glancing back
one sees the path
that will never trod again.

Wanderer, there is no path—
Just waves in the sea.

Beyond living and dreaming there is something
more important: waking up.

I love Jesus, who said to us: Heaven and earth will pass away.
When heaven and earth have passed away, my word will remain.
What was your word, Jesus? Love? Forgiveness? Affection?
All your words were one word: Wakeup.
Antonio Machado

Last night I had a dream…
Antonio Machado

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamt of a fountain flowing
deep down in my heart.
Water, by what hidden channels
have you come, tell me, to me,
welling up with new life
I never tasted before?

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamt of a hive at work
deep down in my heart.
Within were the golden bees
straining out the bitter past
to make sweet-tasting honey,
and white honeycomb.

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamt of a hot sun shining
deep down in my heart.
The heat was in the scorching
as from a fiery hearth;
the sun in the light it shed
and the tears it brought to the eyes.

Last night I had a dream-
a blessed illusion it was-
I dreamed it was God I’d found
deep down in my heart.

Be gentle with yourself by Sanober Khan

Whatever you do
be gentle with yourself.
you don’t just live
in this world
or your home
or your skin.

you also live
in someone’s eyes.
Sanober Khan

Waking Up/Antonio Machado

Beyond living and dreaming there is something
more important: waking up.
Antonio Machado

Under all that we think, lives all we believe,
like the ultimate veil of our spirits.
Antonio Machado