Rev. Carol Napier
Dorothy Pietracatella
Maxine Stein
Rev. Carolyn Tricomi
As you explore the thoughts and approaches shared on this site, there are some assumptions and hypotheses inherent in what you’ll find here. It’s my hope that this beginning page will allow you insight into the world view I bring to what you’ll find throughout the site.
I was raised in a home defined by the presence of my maternal grandmother – a Victorian woman who ran our multi-family home as the unquestioned authority on just about everything. She was a clairvoyant who perceived other dimensions of reality, as well as a healer who worked with people who came to our large Hollywood, California home to see her. She was a Theosophist and, I later discovered, a Spiritualist. When I was about 10 years old and decided I didn’t want to go to the local Presbyterian church anymore, she gave me a choice: go back to church or study with her. I chose to study with her, which I did from ages 10 to 16, when she died. The time spent with her shaped my perceptions of, and expectations about, reality.
Even though I have grown beyond the teachings of my childhood, some of the assumptions about reality that I learned as her student are still with me, which comprise the working model of reality reflected by Devadana Sanctuary:
* We live in a world made up of many dimensions of reality
* There are visible and invisible sources of help and inspiration around us all the time
* Help is readily available if we ask for and then allow ourselves to receive it.
In 1978, during meditation, I fell into what I can only call the Void. In the flash of a moment, it became clear to me that everything I had ever believed and experienced, no matter how moving, no matter how vivid, no matter how much love I felt in it or about it, was unreal and impermanent. The beliefs on which I had based my life now appeared as one way to translate an infinite reality that, ultimately, emerged from the Void space and returned to it. It was a thoroughly shattering experience and I felt as though my solid foundation of reality, the world as I had known it, had been yanked out from under me. Even though I have recreated a fluid kind of belief about reality in the years since, there is a part of me that never forgets that what is ultimately real, in my experience, is the Nothing that is the ever-present, all encompassing Void – the paradox that this Nothing holds the infinite potential for all that is and all that will ever be.
For that reason, while Devadana Sanctuary offers a working model to engage in a creative, dynamic relationship with multidimensional reality, we want to avoid offering any kind of belief system. We seek to inspire your own perceptions of reality rather than to suggest what belief system you should hold.
– Nancy Napier
On this website, we seek to offer a context within which you may explore your relationship with the presence of the Sacred in all life. We do this through practices, guided meditations, and workshops. For those of us who live in urban settings, it can sometimes be more challenging to access a sense of the presence of the sacred than it is in natural environments.
Here, we share spiritual practices, guided meditations, and teachings that encompass ways to deepen your relationship with the embodied presence of the sacred in all aspects of life, in every context of your daily life: the embodied sacred life in nature, the sacred as it expresses through both visible and invisible realms, and the sacred as it is embodied in everything and everyone you encounter in your everyday activities.
All that we engage in our physical lives–our bodies, trees, rocks, water, all life forms, all physical forms of every kind–are comprised of the same particles that make up buildings, computers, and teacups. Everything you would call an “object” in your daily life is made of the same sacred and physical stuff as you are. Learning to honor the sacred in everything around you deepens a sense of interbeing, interdependence, connection, and oneness as natural aspects of everyday life.
Drawing on processes derived from a number of spiritual approaches, we offer information and support for a dynamic relationship with the sacred that is within and all around you. Through guided meditations, on-line forums, and future workshops, we will explore practical and grounded ways for you to enrich and deepen your experience of the many life forms–both physical and spiritual–with whom you share our planet.
Welcome to Devadana Sanctuary, a place where we hope you will find rest, ease and inspiration as part of your spiritual journey. Our goal is to offer not only a forum within which you may share your own inspiring stories, but also where you may receive ideas to nourish your sense of the Sacred in everyday life.
Our main premise is that all life, in whatever form it exists – human/non-human, organic/inorganic, material/non-material – is part of One Life expressing Itself in myriad forms and vibratory frequencies. What appear to be inert objects are comprised of molecules and particles that are of the same living elements as are the molecules and particles of things we generally assume to be “alive”. Also, we hold the possibility that everything in this One Life, which is all that is, is equally pervaded by the One Consciousness that expresses Itself in an infinite array of ways.
In every moment of our daily life, we are in relationship to this Sacred whole of which we are an expression. Engaging everything we encounter as both sacred and conscious brings us into a mindful awareness of our dynamic interconnection and interdependence. This, in turn, inspires us to engage our moment-to-moment experiences more mindfully, respectfully and reverently. When we recognize that everything and everyone we encounter along the way is part of the sacred whole that also includes us, our daily activities take on a richer tone, a more alive essence.
Here's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Audio PlayerHere's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to recorded meditations when driving or using machinery.
Audio PlayerHere's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Audio PlayerHere's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Audio PlayerHere's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Audio PlayerHere's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Audio PlayerEvery living being constantly radiates its essence, its “energy signature” into the environment in every moment. And, we are no exception. The frequencies with which we resonate as a matter of course determine the quality of energy we radiate into the environment, and this week’s exploration invites you to pay attention to what you send out to the world, as well as to the frequencies with which you generally resonate. The frequencies, qualities, and intentions with which you resonate not only shape your experience, they also align you with subtle beings, some of whom are collaborators, who resonate with those same frequencies.
David Spangler talks about how responsive the subtle realms are to our intentions, so it’s also helpful to remember that your state of mind, where you place your attention, what you choose as your focus of thoughts and feelings not only affect the physical world around you but also shape the subtle energies and realms you encounter along the way.
Notice what arises in your experience when you choose to radiate love, compassion, kindness, or other heart-centered energies into your environment, or what you experience when you resonate with sacred images or sounds. Explore the "tone of you" when you orient to different qualities of being, qualities that you then radiate into your environment.
How you move through the world and your daily experience matters. In every moment, our collective being, our interbeing, as Thich Nhat Hanh would say, is touched and affected by all of us. This doesn’t mean to become concerned about what you contribute simply by being you. Instead, it’s an opportunity to become more mindful of where you focus your attention and, then, what you radiate into your environment as a result of that focus.
Another part of this exploration is to continue to be even more aware of the energies you encounter along the way as you interact with other people, other life forms, other places, as everything radiates its essence into the environment and into our collective consciousness.
When you’ve had a chance to work with this week’s Exploration, please post your experiences so that we can all begin to share the process of discovering what enhances our sense of the sacred in our everyday lives.
Here's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Every space you enter has its own, unique “spirit” or quality and a powerful way to enrich your experience of the sacred in urban settings (or anywhere, for that matter) is to develop your ability to attune to the spirit of a place. For this week’s exploration, I invite you to focus on your felt-sense of the spaces and places around you.
There are a couple reasons to develop this practice, if you haven’t already. First, being able to sense the spirit of a place increases your awareness of the “ocean” of energies and qualities that you swim in as you move through your daily life. Being able to sense the qualities around you allows you to have a deeper sense of whether you want to stay or move on. It also offers a way to have a more enlivened relationship with the subtle energies around you.
For this exploration, it’s possible to use many of the “languages of interpretation” that we have available to perceive subtle realities. You might have impressions that come as images, sounds, flickering sensations in your body, words—in any way that allows you to perceive what your body-mind senses about the spirit, the energies, the qualities of a place.
Most of us have had many experiences of entering a space or place and immediately feeling comfortable or immediately feeling uncomfortable. Taking the time to attune to the energies you’ve just entered offers an opportunity to deepen your awareness. And, as always, deepened awareness allows for more choice. Even if you can’t leave a space that makes you uncomfortable, you may have ways to “shield” yourself by focusing on your internal center of gravity, your inherent groundedness, or on the ways you center yourself when you are unsettled or uncomfortable.
When you discover that you feel increasingly comfortable in a space or place, being aware of this offers an opportunity to deepen your relationship with the spirit, the energy, of the place. An enhanced sense of belonging, of connection, is a powerful way to nourish a sense of well-being, even in busy urban contexts.
When you’ve had a chance to work with this week’s Exploration, please post your experiences so that we can all begin to share the process of discovering what enhances our sense of the sacred in our everyday lives.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Over a number of years now, I’ve engaged in practices that help to develop a more heart-centered awareness, a shift from always being in the head/mental brain to the perception and intelligence that lives in the heart. For this week’s exploration, I invite you to play with these two “brains” and to notice the quality of your experience when you focus your awareness in your heart brain rather than your head brain.
One of the shifts many people notice when they perceive from their heart is a more distinct experience of connection with the world around them. For this exploration, notice what happens when you encounter, say, a tree, and perceive it not only through your thoughts about it but also from the perspective of your heart space. In addition, as you encounter the gadgets and “things” that are part of your daily activities, notice how it is to relate to them from your heart awareness, even as you also engage them mentally. Also, as you move among people throughout your day, in whatever ways that arise for you, notice what it’s like to meet them, or perceive them, with your heart awareness. Notice if you feel more related to your world when you experience it through your heart.
One way to support a more heart-centered perception is to take a moment at the beginning of the day to breathe in and out through your heart. You can find practices around this through the HeartMath organization and in other heart-centered options such as Tonglen, which is found in Buddhist practice.
As we touch into in all these Explorations, this is another opportunity to enrich your experience of a larger reality even as you may live in a busy, noisy, and highly populated urban setting.
When you’ve had a chance to work with this week’s Exploration, please post your experiences so that we can all begin to share the process of discovering what enhances our sense of the sacred in our everyday lives.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
David Spangler has an exercise that I really like and I’d like to share my adaptation of it for you to explore over the next week. It involves transmitting the essence and energy of love to everything around you. Remember that most of these explorations arise from the assumption that everything we encounter is alive and conscious, in the sense that all are expressions of the One Life that is all that is. Saying that everything is conscious doesn’t mean everything experiences and expresses the same kind of consciousness. Different frequencies and different qualities of essence no doubt generate different kinds of consciousness. The underlying assumption, however, is that there is One Consciousness and that we are all participants in that One.
For this week’s exploration, I invite you to imagine that you are filled up with universal love, an energy and essence that is constantly flowing into and through you and is infinite in its availability. As you approach, say, your favorite chair, imagine that the love energy can flow through you and out your fingertips into your chair. As the energy of love flows from you to your chair, imagine that it fills your chair with the living essence of love and that the chair receives, and is enhanced by, the love you offer to it.
Imagine how it would be if you were to offer love to whatever you encounter in your environment, recalling not only that it has an effect on everything you touch, but also noticing what effect it has on you as you engage this practice.
When you’ve had a chance to play with this a bit, please share your experiences and questions below. As a community, we can offer one another support in bringing alive, enriching, and deepening our experiences of engaging the Spirits of the Urban Sacred.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
I spend a lot of time on computers and have found that my relationship with them is a dynamic and active one. It took me quite a while to recognize that my computers—both at home and at the office—are true collaborative companions along the way. For example, it dawned on me one day that something other than my conscious awareness was guiding me to resources on the computer. Between my own website’s Weekly Practices postings, the Daily Inspiration postings on the Devadana Sanctuary side of the portal, and other activities that require inspiring input, I realized that I was being guided to sources of materials that I didn’t know existed. This usually happens as I follow certain things that pop up on my computer, either through Facebook or in odd ways I can’t quite explain.
For this week’s exploration of Spirits of the Urban Sacred, I invite you to notice how it is for you when you interact more actively with your gadgets—your computer, smart phone, iPad, or other gadgets that link you to the web—as if they are active collaborators with your intentions. For example, if you need to find something and you’re not sure where to start, ask your gadget for help and then don’t think about your request—just go forward with what you need to do. Later, notice how you eventually got to where you needed to be and play with the possibility that your gadget helped you to find what you needed.
One of the elements of having a more conscious relationship with your gadgets is to remember to greet and thank them, saying “hello” when you encounter them for the first time in the day and then thanking them when you sign off or put them away when it’s time to either go to bed or move on to other non-gadget activities.
With all of these Explorations, one of the elements to include in your awareness is your felt-sense of the process of engaging your gadgets in this way. What happens in your body when you consciously connect with your gadget as a living presence? What thoughts or feelings do you have when you play with opening up to receiving impressions from your gadgets? If you notice doubts, mixed feelings, or tension, bring curiosity to your response and get to know it without intensifying it by adding anything else.
Many of us run into doubt or conflict when we open ourselves to a larger reality, so you may find that it’s part of the process to notice mixed feelings and then allow them to move on through as you return to your intention to more consciously collaborate with, and relate to, your gadgets.
A note here on working with subtle awareness. It’s important allow yourself to be open to fleeting and vague impressions without pushing them away or having to immediately understand them. Over time, if you don’t have one already, you’ll develop your own “vocabulary” of impressions, your own way of translating subtle awareness into a kind of communication you can understand. You may do this differently from anyone else and that’s fine. It’s your own internal language and will develop over time as you explore what comes into your awareness and the outcomes that follow.
When you’ve had a chance to play with this a bit, please share your experiences and questions below. As a community, we can offer one another support in bringing alive, enriching, and deepening our experiences of engaging the Spirits of the Urban Sacred.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the information.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.
~ Haruki Murakami
Storm, Mojave Desert - photo by Jessie Eastland, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
~ R. Buckminster Fuller
Sequoia National Park - photo by Devadana Sanctuary
Hope is radical openness for surprise—for the unimaginable. If that is the attitude with which we look, listen, and open all our senses, we enter into a meaningful relationship with whatever Life offers us at a given moment.
~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
Ocean Sunrise - photo by f9photos, bigstockphoto.com
Everything that is created comes from the inner worlds. The energy of life flows from the uncreated emptiness out of the planes of manifestation.
~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Elf Garden - Iceland, photo by Ragnhildur Johnsdottir
Between a human and a tree is the breath. We are each other’s air.
~ Margaret Bates
Central Park Tree Friend, photo by Devadana Sanctuary
Accessing our natural heart intelligence can create an energetic field of unconditional love and harmonious interaction— helping humanity to realize we are one Earth, one yard, one people. Love is the one thing that can bring all this together coherently and eventually thrive.
~ Doc Childre
Lake Maligne, Canada - photo by Devadana Sanctuary
The unknown is where possibility glitters.
~ Michelle Obama
Light Filtering in Jungle Cave, Belize - photo by Kevin Wells Photography
Let’s keep pouring light into each other, into all things and all situations. At a time when change is all around us and we are not sure what we can do, simply pour light in. Love wins.
~ Earthschool Harmony
Vivid Moorea Sunset. Tahiti - photo by Devadana Sanctuary
Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.
~ Kahlil Gibran
Lotus Blossom - photo by Ange DiBenedetto
"We're living a lie," he stated. The astronaut also pointed out how problems like global warming, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity are treated as isolated issues when, in fact, they are symptoms of a larger problem: human disconnection with the planet. "From space, it becomes clear that we do not see each other as part of a whole.” "As long as we do not change this mentality, we will continue to be in crisis," he said.
The solution, according to Garan, is a radical change of priorities. Instead of thinking about "economy, society, planet", we should reverse the order: "planet, society, economy". This simple exchange reflects the need to place environmental health as the basis for all other decisions.
~ Ron Garan, a former NASA astronaut
Earth from Apollo - photo by NASA
Even though we cannot see clearly how it's going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into our imagination.
We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts.
~Joanna Macy
Shoreline Magic, Costa Rica - photo by Devadana Sanctuary
I think sometimes we need to take a step back and just remember we have no greater right to be here than any other animal.
~ Sir David Attenboro
Sri Lankan Leopards - photo by sonnydaez, bigstockphoto.com
Gratitude is like breathing in – letting ourselves be touched by the goodness in others and in our world. Generosity is like breathing out – sensing our mutual belonging and offering our care.
~ Tara Brach
Rainbow, Lake George - photo by Devadana Sanctuary
Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up.
~ Stephen Hawking
Mountain Valley, Nepal - photo by denbelitsky, bigstockphoto.com
We have to get back to the spiritual law if we are to survive.
I do not see a delegation for the Four Footed. I see no seat for the Eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior. But we are after all a mere part of Creation. And we must consider to understand where we are. And we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there as part and parcel of the Creation.
~ Oren Lyons
Snowy Owl in Flight - photo by photoguy66, bigstockphoto.com
Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.
~ R. Buckminster Fuller
White Lotus Flower - photo by Pixel B, bigstockphoto.com
What is one thing you can do today to ease the pain of someone else? Make it very small, very simple. Do it today.
~ Diane Mariechild
Beautiful Tree, Pacific Grove, CA - photo by Jen Silacci
When the world of humans is too much, let the more-than-human world cradle you. The old ones knew this truth—our grandmothers who sang to the seeds, our grandfathers who knelt in the dirt, our ancestors who listened to the whispers of the wind and the silence of the stones.
~ Angell Deer
Cave Behind Rifle Falls, Colorado - photo by Kris Wiktor, bigstockphoto.com
The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, a heart of grace, and a soul generated by love.
~ Coretta Scott King
Sunrise in Monument Valley - photo by Melissa Kopka, bigstockphoto.com
We can never underestimate this truth: No matter who you are, the biggest thing you do in any day is most often going to be a small act of kindness, decency, or love.
~ Cory Booker
Beautiful Lotus - photo by Peggy Braun
The obvious choice, then, is to extend our notions of self-interest. For example, it would not occur to me to plead with you, “Don’t saw off your leg. That would be an act of violence.” It wouldn’t occur to me (or to you) because your leg is part of your body. Well, so are the trees in the Amazon rain basin. They are our external lungs. We are beginning to realize that the world is our body.
~ Joanna Macy
Amazon Jungle - photo by pxhidalgo, bigstockphoto.com
Truth be told, the entire world is conscious. The whole Universe is made of consciousness or “God-stuff”, even supposedly inanimate objects like rocks. As more and more people break the shackles of the false selves and realize their true natures, interspecies communication, including both animal communication and plant communication, will become more and more common.
~ Makia Freeman
Red Deer Stag and Foggy Forest - photo by Veneratio, bigstockphoto.com
Rivers do not drink their own water, trees do not eat their own fruit, the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is…Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you.
~ Pope Francis
Mountain River - photo by Ale-ks, bigstockphoto.com
Our goal is that everyone has enough. Not more. Not all. But enough, enough for living beings to share, enough for life to thrive. Spirit has given us an Earth where doing that is more than possible. All we need to do is recover from our addiction to privilege. Simple and sustainable: the path forward is broad and inclusive. Let us walk it together.
~ Steven Charleston
Grand Teton National Park - photo by Terra Tirapelli
The earth is a living thing. Mountains speak, trees sing, lakes can think, pebbles have a soul, rocks have power.
~ Henry Crow Dog
Sunrise, Hunts Mesa, Monument Valley, AZ - photo by aisha, bigstockphoto.com
Yes, a person can accept your apology and forgive you for what you’ve said, but they will never forget how you made them feel at that very moment. Words can stick in a person’s mind, heart, and spirit long after the words have been spoken. Don’t be in denial; words have GREAT power. Be wise when you speak!
~ Stephanie Lahart
European Barberry Berberis Vulgaris Flowers - photo by ArgenLant, bigstockphoto.com
Look around you. This very breath you take isn't yours alone, it's a shared symphony with the trees, the wind, the creatures unseen. The cosmos isn't a collection of separate parts, it's a cosmic play unfolding on a single stage. The trick isn't to get lost in the multitude of roles, but to glimpse the oneness of the script. When that happens, the chattering mind surrenders. It recognizes it's not a separate player, but a note in the grand composition. Then, the dance of existence becomes your own, infused with a sense of belonging vaster than you ever imagined.
~ Deon Emmons
Mature Linden Tree, Estonia - photo by Artenex, bigstockphoto.com
There is a kindness that dwells deep down in things; it presides everywhere, often in the places we least expect. The world can be harsh and negative, but if we remain generous and patient, kindness inevitably reveals itself. Something deep in the human soul seems to depend on the presence of kindness; something instinctive in us expects it, and once we sense it we are able to trust and open ourselves.
~ John O’Donohue
Flowers from Arenal Volcano Area, Costa Rica - photo by Piter99, bigstockphoto.com
The whole of planet earth is a sacred site.
All people are the chosen people,
and the purpose of our lives is a spiritual one.
May we care for each other, and the earth,
for everything relates to everything else.
Feeling this oneness, may we radiate the light
of love and kindness that all may live in unity
and peace.
~ Radha Sahar
Icelandic Sunset - photo by Ragnhilur Jonsdottir
Every breath is a sacrament, an affirmation of our connection with all other living beings, a renewal of our link with our ancestors and a contribution to the generations yet to come. Our breath is a part of life’s breath …
~ David Suzuki
Sunset, Makena Beach, Hawaii - photo by Indira Darst
We cannot assume the sacredness nor spiritual livingness of the earth or accept it as a new ideology or as a sentimentally pleasing idea…We must allow it to shape us, as great spiritual ideas have always shaped those who entertain them…It is an invitation to initiation, to the death of what we have been and the birth of something new.
~ David Spangler
Orchid and Zen Stones - photo by svf74, bigstockphoto.com
Modern peoples...have mainly forgotten that we live in relationship as brothers and sisters with all the beings and forces of the natural world. Our scientific redefinitions of the "unseen" as the "unreal" have caused us to forget that we are all luminous strands in a giant web of belonging.
~ don Oscar Miro-Quesada
Idaho Falls - photo by Jen Silacci
Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides…When you are aware of all that has been given you, in your lifetime and in the past few days, it is hard not to be humbled, and pleased to give back.
~ Anne LaMott
Bow Fiddle Rock at Sunrise, Scotland - photo by stroop, bigstockphoto.com
As the youngest species on the planet, it behooves us to remember that there is a great deal we still have to learn. May we grow into a recognition of our youth as a species and allow ourselves to learn from the many species who are our elders. May we be open to learning how best to survive, thrive, and collaborate, drawing from the wisdom accrued by our earth-kin elders.
~ Nancy J. Napier
Cup Fungi Rainforest, Southeast Asia - photo by IamTK, bigstockphoto.com
Compassion increases in effectiveness as we mature in the core qualities of the heart, such as unconditional love, allowance, acceptance and an unattached desire for the highest outcome for all concerned.
~ Doc Childre
Lotus Flower - photo by pakpoom17, bigstockphoto.com
We have become an impatient species, too busy to let nature replenish itself and too puffed up with our own sense of importance to acknowledge our own dependence on its generosity.
~ David Suzuki
Foggy Forest - photo by stock_king, bigstockphoto.com
Earth is not a platform for human life. It’s a living being. We’re not on it but part of it. Its health is our health.
~ Thomas Moore
Earth - photo from NASA
The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence. To understand the true nature of the universe, one must think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.
~ Nikola Tesla
Iceland Auroras - photos by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
Ultimately, work on the self is inseparable from work in the world. Each mirrors the other; each is a vehicle for the other. When we change ourselves, our values and actions change, as well.
~ Charles Eisenstein
Lotus Blossom - photo by Ange DiBenedetto
Animists are people who recognise that the world is full of persons, only some of whom are human, and that life is always lived in relationship with others.
~ Graham Harvey
African Bush Elephant, Kruger National Park, South Africa - photo by Paco Como, bigstockphoto.com
Your unity and connection with LIFE and the Universe is a deep spiritual and scientific truth. Reality exists as a beautiful mosaic of interconnection and inter-being. Everything exists in circles of creative interdependence, mutual attraction and sharing.
~ Christopher Chase
Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi Province, Thailand - photo by Olena Tur, bigstockphoto.com
In a world of Oneness, every life form we encounter on this planet is a relation of ours, our earth-kin. Notice what changes or arises in your awareness if you were to move through your daily activities with this recognition.
~ Nancy J. Napier
Sheep in Monument Valley at Sunset - photo by dzain, bigstockphoto.com
And though we seem to be sleeping, there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream, and that will eventually startle us back to the truth of who we are.
~ Rumi
Giant Sequoia, Sequoia National Park, CA - photo by lucky-photographer, bigstockphoto.com
If we are to help heal the world we need to remember that it is a sacred place. Our actions need to be positive statements, reminders that even in the worst times there is a world worth struggling for.
~ Ram Dass
Mount Bromo and Batok Volcanoes, East Java, Indonesia - photo by MazurTravel, bigstockphoto.com
Not just beautiful, though—the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me.
~ Haruki Murakami
Milky Way, Granitoe, Ukraine - photo by denbelitsky, bigstockphoto.com
Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer
Grand Canyon and Colorado River - photo by diro, bigstockphoto.com
The key takeaway [of quantum mechanics]…is that we are all part of one unified field interacting and co-existing with one another…Kami (spirit) and people are not separate; they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.
~ Akiko Ogawa
Malenge Lagoon, Indonesia - photo by Fabio Lamanna, bigstockphotocoom
The power of mass intention may ultimately be the force that shifts the tide toward repair and renewal of the planet.
~ Lynne McTaggart
Sunrise over Matheson Lake, New Zealand - photo by pranodhm, bigstockphoto.com
In the universe there are things that are known and things that are unknown, and in between there are doors.
~ William Blake
Jungles of northern Thailand - photo by quickshooting, bigstockphoto.com
Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
~ Arundhati Roy
Colorful Sunset at Twilight - photo by jimbophotoart, bigstockphoto.com
I am only one
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not to refuse to do the something
that I can do.
~ Edward Everett Hale
Nature's Magic, Aurora in Iceland - photo by stroop, bigstockphoto.com
What if our religion was each other? If our practice was our life? What if the temple was the Earth? If forests were our church? If holy water - the rivers, lakes, and oceans? What if meditation was our relationships? If the Teacher was life? If wisdom was knowledge? If love was the center of our being.
~ Ganga White
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, Carmel, CA - photo by Jen Silacci
I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.
~ Hafiz
Sunrise, Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT - photo by prochasson, bigstockphoto.com
Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.
~ Hermann Hesse
Tree in Snow - photo by jaapbleijenberg, bigstockphoto.com
When anything good happens to you in your day, give thanks. It doesn't matter how small it is, say thank you. When you get the perfect parking space, hear your favorite song on the radio, approach a light that turns green, or find an empty seat on the bus or train, say thank you. These are all good things that you are receiving from life.
~ Rhonda Byrne
Rising Son in Yosemite National Park - photo by Kris Wiktor, bigstockphoto.com
As long as I’m alive, I will continue to try to understand more because the work of the heart is never done.
~ Muhammad Ali
White Lily - photo by pavel_klimenko, bigstockphoto.com
We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits.
But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe.
~ Wendell Berry
Meteora Valley at Sunset, Greece - photo by Lhboucault, bigstockphoto.com
How could people not see such beings as ancestors, as holders of secrets from the great beyond?
~ Jori Lewis
Mariposa Grove, Yosemite - photo by cphoto, bigstockphoto.com
We are walking ecosystems with more non-human than human cells in and on the body we call self. Interbeing is not a concept, it describes the relational matrix of health in which we take our being and live our lives while co-creating the very process we emerged from.
~Daniel Christian Wahl
Keystone, CO - photo by Jen Silacci
May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my life contribute in some way to that happiness and freedom for all.
~ Sanskrit Prayer for Peace
Victoria Lily - photo by Whiskybottle, bigstockphoto.com
In each of us there is a spark that can reverse the trends of violence and depression spiraling within us and in the world around us. By setting in motion the spiral of gratefulness we begin the journey toward peace and joy.
~ Br. David Steindl-Rast
Sunset - photo by Carol Napier
At every moment, we always have a choice, even if it feels as if we don’t. Sometimes that choice may simply be to think a more positive thought.
~ Tina Turner
Ocean Sunrise - photo by Katharina 13, bigstockphoto.com
When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless..
~ Pema Chödrön
Lotus Blossom - photo by kenny001, bigstockphoto.com
In the human spirit, as in the universe, nothing is higher or lower; everything has equal rights to a common center which manifests its hidden existence precisely through this harmonic relationship between every part and itself.
~ Goethe
Canadian Otter - photo by jgotwald, bigstockphoto.com
If we can have a holistic view of soil, soul and society, if we can understand the interdependence of all living beings, and understand that all living creatures—from trees to worms to humans—depend on each other, then we can live in harmony with ourselves, with other people and with nature.
~ Satish Kumar
Sunset, Rainforest Jungle - photo by Mihailo K, bigstockphoto.com
Since it is impossible to be outside the reach of collective consciousness, we are faced with a constant opportunity to make a difference by cleaning up our small contribution to the human morphic field. No one else can do this for us; each of us must choose the quality of thought, feeling, and being we want to bring into our individual lives and, thereby, into the reach of everyone else.
~ Nancy Napier
Icelandic Sunset - photo by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.
~ Mary Oliver
Snowy Woodland, Carpathian National Park, Ukraine - photo by Leonid Tit, bigstockphoto.com
The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world.
~ Joanna Macy
Sunset Sky - photo by mexitographer, bigstockphoto.com
Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being's suffering. Not a career. Not wealth. Not intelligence. Certainly not status.
We have to feel for one another if we're going to survive with dignity.
~ Audrey Hepburn
Lavendar Rose - photo by Kholywood, bigstockphoto.com
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
~ Edward Everett Hale
Sunrise, Lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park,l Canada - photo by Songquan Deng, bigstockphoto.com
New research suggests a belief in oneness has broad implications for psychological functioning and compassion for those who are outside of our immediate circle.
~ Scott Barry Kaufman
Lotus Blossom - photo by Ange DiBenedetto
We are not here on Earth to be alone, but to be a part of a living community, a web of life in which all is sacred. Like the cells of our body, all of life is in constant communication, as science is just beginning to understand. No bird sings in isolation, no bud breaks open alone. And the most central note that is present in life is its sacred nature, something we need to each rediscover and honor anew.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Megalithic Stone Circle, Isle of Lewis and Harris, Scotland - photo by AnnekaS, bigstockphoto.com
Be a kind voice in this broken-hearted world. Give grace, and be ready to receive it. Listen so well that the person you’re with can rest in your loving attention for a moment. Be a light. Be a light. Be a light.
~ Narea Hoffman
Ocean Landscape at Sunset - photo by Yanika, bigstockphoto,com
Reality is woven from strange, “holistic” threads that aren’t located precisely in space or time. Tug on a dangling loose end from this fabric of reality, and the whole cloth twitches, instantly, throughout all space and time...The bottom line is that physical reality is connected in ways we’re just beginning to understand…When you drill down into the core of even the most solid-looking material, separateness dissolves.
~ Dean Radin
Desert Beneath the Milky Way - photo by raphoto, bigstockphoto.com
we aren't here to
turn our lives into
a bank vault
we are here to be
a gateless park
oh, my love,
I wasted so many
years before I learned
that
we are not what we take
from this world
we are defined by what we
give back to it
~ john roedel
Orchid Blossoms - photo by akvafoto, bigstockphoto.com
It appears consciousness can play a very important role in changing our planet. Just having these thoughts alone could contribute to the massive shift in consciousness that’s occurring. Find your inner peace, be peace, be love, acting and living your life from such a place plays a very important role in changing the world.
~ Arjun Walia
Winter Landscape with Morning Sun - photo by salman2, bigstockphoto.com
All we want, whether we are honeybees, salmon, trash-collecting ants, ponderosa pines, coyotes, human beings, or stars, is to love and be loved, to be accepted, cherished, and celebrated simply for being who we are. Is that so very difficult?
~ Derrick Jensen
Timber Wolves - photo by Josef Pittner, bigstockphoto.com
But I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
~ Alan Watts
Walking Bridge, Rainforest - photo by Jack-sooksan, bigstockphoto.com
If we are to become partners with the Earth, living our shared journey, we have to once again speak the same language, listen with our senses attuned not just to the physical world but also to its inner dimension.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Elf Garden, July 2013 - photo by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
Whenever you have a choice between being right or being kind, be kind. No exceptions. Don’t confuse kindness for weakness.
~ Kevin Kelly
Lotus Flowers - photo by Phuong D. Nguyen, bigstockphoto.com
Creation is ongoing. The world begins anew each day. This is the miracle that makes not a sound, but which changes everything, if we can be quiet enough to feel it happen. When we can participate in this, we begin anew each day.
~ Mark Nepo
Grand Canyon Sunrise - photo by maverick888, bigstockphoto.com
Continue.
Be loving and be strong.
Be fierce and be kind.
And don't give in and don't give up.
~ Maya Angelou
Yosemite National Park - photo by Pung Pung, bigstockphoto.com
The entire range of living matter on Earth from whales to viruses and from oaks to algae could be regarded as constituting a single living entity capable of maintaining the Earth's atmosphere to suit its overall needs and endowed with faculties and powers far beyond those of its constituent parts.
~ James Lovelock
Jaguar in Belize Jungle - photo by milosk50, bigstockphoto.com
For myself, solitude is rather like a folded-up forest that I carry with me everywhere and unfurl around myself when I have need.
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Coast Redwoods from Inside Tree - bigstockphoto.com
For someone visiting earth for the first time, the real treasures here would all be free. The smell of a sunlit prairie, the taste of a cold cup of spring water, the crunch of trackless snow underfoot, these are some of the earth's supreme treasures. On intergalactic maps, if there are such things, the place where we live must surely be designated as a magical garden in space, a place of astounding beauty.
~ Steve Van Matre
Mountain River and Snow - photo by denbelitsky, bigstockphoto.com
Given the distant common ancestry between octopuses and humans, conscious octopuses would mean that consciousness has evolved on earth twice. Godfrey-Smith believes it’s plausible that there are more than two branches of evolution where consciousness independently developed…Based on the current evidence, it seems that consciousness is not particularly unusual at all, but a fairly routine development in nature.
~ Olivia Goldhill
Octopus - photo by Colorshadow, bigstockphoto.com
Wealth among traditional people is measured by having enough to give away.
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
Sunrise, Mesa Arch, UT - photo by vent du sud, bigstockphoto.com
I think it's a deep consolation to know that spiders dream, that monkeys tease predators, that dolphins have accents, that lions can be scared silly by a lone mongoose, that otters hold hands, and ants bury their dead. That there isn't their life and our life. Nor your life and my life.
That it's just one teetering and endless thread and all of us, all of us, are entangled with it as deep as entanglement goes.
~ Kate Forster
Male White Lion - photo by EnjoyLife, bigstockphoto.com
We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.
~ John O'Donohue
Yellow Calla Lily Flowers - photo by Seregraff, bigstockphoto.com
If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Sequoia National Park - photo by travelview, bigstockphoto.com
Awareness may not diminish the enormity of our pain in all circumstances. It does provide a bigger basket for tenderly holding and intimately holding our suffering in any and all circumstances, and that, in turns out, is transformative—and healing.
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
Invitation to Awareness - photo by scorpp, bigstockphoto.com
The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love—whether we call it friendship or family or romance—is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another.
~ James Baldwin
Sunrise, Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT - photo by Bill45, bigstockphoto.com
Water has a memory and carries within it our thoughts and prayers. As you yourself are water, no matter where you are, your prayers will be carried to the rest of the world.
~ Masaru Emoto
Niagara Falls, USA - photo by lucky-photographer, bigstockphoto.com
What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses.
~ Bruce Lipton
Limestone Cave, Naracoorte Caves National Park, Australia - photo by ymgerman, bigstockphoto.com
For our indigenous partners in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador, they don't just live in the forest—they are the forest. They commune with Arutam, the spirit of the forest, to receive its guiding wisdom. May the forest be with us all.
~ Pachamama Alliance
Amazon Jungle - photo by pxhidalgo, bigstockphoto.com
I have always thought of all creatures - all organisms, really - as relations. Whether wandering alone in deep wilderness or just leaning against a tree growing beside an urban sidewalk, I have had no difficulty feeling, as if in dreamtime, the roots of our relatedness - ecologically, yes, but also with an overlay of the sacred, the holy.
~ Lyanda Lynn Haupt
Bald Eagle in Rocky Mountain HIgh Country - photo by Designwest, bigstockphoto.com
Our ability to dream of possibilities – to vision and bring forth what we are here to do for the greater good – should not be underestimated. It is how we cooperate with the Infinite.
~ Ellen Grace O’Brian
Sunset, Asilomar Beach, Pacific Grove, CA - photo by Jen Silacci
I am inviting you to go deeper, to learn and to practice so that you become someone who has a great capacity for being solid, calm, and without fear, because our society needs people who have these qualities, and your children, our children, need people like you, in order to go on, in order to become solid, and calm, and without fear.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Lotus Blossoms - photo by Ange DiBenedetto
The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.
~ Nikola Tesla
Aurora over Swedish Lake - photo by contas, bigstockphoto.com
Magical places are always beautiful and deserve to be contemplated. Always stay on the bridge between the invisible and the visible.
~ Paulo Coelho
LLanos de Cortez Waterfall, Costa Rica - photo by billberryphotography, bigstockphoto.com